


Living in the Circular

by Anonymous



Series: Those Who Challenge the Stars [3]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff and Humor, Found Family, Gen, Humor? In a dsmp time travel au?, Hurt/Comfort, Little bit of angst, Multiple Crossovers, Non-Linear Narrative, Time Loop, Time Travel, it's more likely than you think
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29905419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Time traveling once is a second chance. Time travelling twice is a punishment. Time travelling for eternity just gets a little boring.Or, an increasing number of Dream SMP members find themselves stuck in a time loop. Humor and shenanigans ensue.
Relationships: Eret & Niki | Nihachu & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Eret & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Sam | Awesamdude & TommyInnit, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit
Series: Those Who Challenge the Stars [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2167077
Comments: 321
Kudos: 369
Collections: Anonymous





	1. 1.0 - How it Begins

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based off of the Infinite Loops project, although it isn't canon to said project. For a little bit of context: Due to a break in the multiverse, the admins have put all the different universes in time loops, in order to preserve them until they get everything working again. It's going to take several eternities to fix the problem. And so, due to repeating the same period of time over and over, most loopers go a bit stir crazy. 
> 
> It should also be noted that this story was planned before the prison saga with Tommy being trapped. As such, the loop ends shortly after the nuke test. (At least for now.)
> 
> All that said, I hope you enjoy!

**1.1**

At this point, Tubbo was beginning to wonder just why the universe hated him so much. 

It had seemed like a blessing, at first. Going to sleep in Snowchester and waking up as he signed L’Manberg’s Declaration of Independence? It was a dream come true. It had taken him a minute to get his bearings, and it took until Dream was handing back his Declaration of War for Tubbo to realize that no, this wasn’t a dream, he really was in the past. 

There was so much he could do. So much he could change. He wasn’t Wilbur or Tommy or Technoblade, he probably couldn’t make everything better, because he wasn’t the main person to act at any given time and therefore less prone to making history-altering decisions, but there were still _so many_ things he could do better. Things he could do to make the world a kinder place. 

He was able to talk Eret around, so they didn’t become a spy. Without the final control room, they all had an extra life, and Wilbur wasn’t nearly as consumed with paranoia. The elections still happened, and Schlatt still won, but Tubbo made sure everyone knew Fundy was a spy from the beginning, and so Fundy was still trusted and his and Wilbur’s relationship didn’t crumble. Technoblade still betrayed them, but Wilbur didn’t die. Fundy became the president, and Philza stayed mostly loyal to L’Manberg, and Tubbo could fade into the background and help Tommy get his disks back. 

He stopped Tommy and Ranboo from burning down George’s house. He alerted Wilbur to the forming Butcher Army ideas, so they were shut down. Techno still tried to destroy L’Manberg anyways, but the country and its people were united against him. When the day Tubbo had travelled back in time rolled around, L’Manberg was still standing, if damaged. 

Sure, Tubbo still had to deal with Schlatt, and the man’s abuse, was still blown up by Techno’s firework, and sure, no one ever helped him with his own problems, or noticed he was struggling, but everyone else was happy, and so Tubbo was _happy_.

And then he found himself signing the Declaration again. And again, and again, and again.

At this point, he wasn’t even sure that his worst actions warranted _this much_ punishing. 

Tubbo finished signing his name once again and stepped back with a sigh. Another time loop, another war. The same messes over and over again. And there seemed to be nothing he could do to change it. 

A familiar groan broke Tubbo out of his dejected musings, and he looked over to see Tommy running a hand through his hair, looking blankly at the declaration in front of him. He looked… tired. And weary. 

Almost as if he’d already done this before. 

Something like hope sparked in the back of Tubbo’s mind. 

On what seemed to be instinct, Tommy looked back at him, and after a second, his eyes widened, that same hope filling up reflecting back at Tubbo. 

Maybe he wasn’t going to be so lonely this time after all. 

~

Tommy cornered him behind the camarvan the second they were alone. “Do you remember?” He demanded, desperation leaking into his voice. “The original timeline, doing all of this before?”

“I do, I do.” Tubbo managed a smile, feeling like he was taking a breath of fresh air for the first time in so long. “I remember all of it. The revolution, the election-”

“Pogtopia,” Tommy butted in, starting to smile himself. “The - the festival, Wilbur blowing everything up.”

“Ghostbur. Exile. Doomsday.” Tommy’s face fell and he nodded. “Tommy, I’m so sorry-”

“I know, I know.” Tommy waved him off. “You already apologized a million times before. That shit’s getting old, I already forgave you. Besides, after that is our final battle with Dream, and we won that! Remember?”

“Yeah.” Ender, this was _Tommy_. It was always Tommy, of course, but this was the original Tommy. Tubbo couldn’t stop smiling. “And Snowchester, and your new hotel you were building.” 

“That’s right!” Tommy huffed. “And I didn’t get to finish it. I never get to finish it!” 

Tubbo blinked. _Never…?_

Tommy saw his confusion. “Oh that’s right. Ah fuck, how do I put this… listen, Tubbo, this isn’t - well, it’s not-”

“Not your first time in the past,” Tubbo guessed, something heavy settling in his stomach. “Me neither. It’s my sixth time doing this.”

Tommy gaped at him. “Me too. But it was just me, I was sure you weren’t with me!” He grit his teeth. “This is so fucked up.”

“Yeah. And I had it the same. You weren’t - weren’t in the same time loops as me, I guess.” Tubbo shrugged. Tommy was clearly freaked out, and so was he, but he could be calm for both of them, like always. “But now we’re looping together.”

“We are.” And Tommy threw his pride out the window, and Tubbo found himself in a tight hug, which he quickly returned. After so long, it was so nice. 

“What do we do?” Tommy muttered. “Are we just stuck looping like this until we find a way out? _Is_ there a way out?”

Tubbo held his best friend tightly. “I don’t know. But at least we’re together again. We’ll figure this out. We always do.” 

Maybe the universe didn’t hate him. Or maybe it hated both of them. But at least they were together, and that was enough for Tubbo.

**1.2**

It was the night where they would find out if Tommy would be exiled or not. Everyone waited around the obsidian walls with baited breath. 

Underneath his mask, Dream smiled. Everything was going exactly to plan. There was no way Tubbo wouldn’t exile Tommy, after all of Dream’s threats. The boy would crumble under the pressure of keeping his worthless country safe, and then not only could Dream work on getting the second disk from him, but he would have Tommy all to himself. 

L’Manberg’s cabinet arrived, Tommy looking nervous, Tubbo looking somber and guilty. _Perfect_. Dream waited for Tubbo to climb up onto the obsidian wall next to Dream, and Dream forced his posture to relax. It would be best if he didn’t look too excited for this outcome. “Well, Tubbo? Have you made your decision?”

Tubbo took a deep breath. “I have.” He let it out as a sigh, then turned to look at his cabinet. “As President of L’Manberg, I hereby exile Tommy Innit… _and_ Tubbo Underscore.”

…

... _What?_

“By letting my VP burn down King George’s house, I have shown that I am unfit to rule,” Tubbo continued, oblivious to Dream’s surprise and anger. “Therefore, I will be passing the presidency to Fundy, a founding member of the country and one who I believe will lead it to prosperity, while I accompany Tommy in exile. This mistake is on my shoulders, and I intend to correct it.” 

“Of course,” Fundy offered. He didn’t seem surprised by this turn of events. In fact, Quackity was grinning wildly. Tubbo must’ve told them what he was planning beforehand. Dream fought the urge to snarl.

Tubbo then gave Dream a weary smile. “If you would, Dream, please escort us outside of the SMP.” With that, he clambered down the wall and over to Tommy. The other boy still seemed nervous, but he swung an arm around his friend and grinned up at Dream.

This wasn’t how things were supposed to go, not at all. Still, they wouldn’t throw him off. He was Dream, and this was his realm. He would keep his cool. 

“Are you sure about this, Tubbo?” He implored. “You’ve been a fantastic president so far. No one blames you for what Tommy has done.” He smiled, although they couldn’t see it. “I certainly don’t. And if I don’t blame you, then why would your friends in L’Manberg?” 

He could see the other cabinet members bristling at the slight, like intended. But Tubbo, strangely, seemed unperturbed. “Thank you Dream. But this is a decision that we of L’Manberg have already agreed on. It’s for our country to decide, even if you feel differently.” 

Fundy coughed. “Indeed. And as the new president, I’m going to have to ask you to escort them out, Dream.” 

This wasn’t the plan. 

Ghostbur, the annoying shell of a man, joined them as they were setting out the boat. “Tommy! Tubbo! Are we going on a vacation?”

“We sure are, big man,” Tommy agreed, although his smile was a little strained. “Want to come?” 

“Of course, I would love to come!” Dream scowled as he undid the ropes. Just what he wanted, another of the original L’Manberg idiots to join them. It was supposed to be him and Tommy, not him and the three Stooges! Things couldn’t get any worse than this. 

After about thirty minutes out at sea, Tommy let out a loud groan. “I’m so bored. Tubbo, got anything you can think of to pass the time?”

“You bet!” Tubbo agreed. “ _Ninety-nine potions of strength on the wall, ninety-nine potions of strength…_ ”

Dream gripped the oars of the boat so hard the wood splintered under his hands. _It’s for the disks_ , he told himself. 

The disks were starting to look less and less appealing. 

**1.3**

“Tommy, what exactly are you doing?” Tubbo asked, as he squinted up at the cobblestone tower. It was massive, and it nearly reached the block limit. And there were at least four others like this scattered around the SMP. 

Tommy jumped from out of one of the windows, landing safely on the ground with the splash of a water bucket. “I got bored,” he announced. “We’ve won L’Manberg’s freedom again, and it’s gonna be a month or so before the elections even start.” He shakes his head. “Seriously, how did we get through this the first time without getting so bored?”

“We were too busy enjoying the peace after months of war,” Tubbo answered sensibly. Personally, he liked these little lulls, where nothing bad happened. “And your answer to this boredom is to build cobblestone towers?” 

Tommy nodded, grinning. “I’m gonna cover the entire SMP in them, and then connect them to one inside L’Manberg territory, and claim all the towers for us.”

“That actually sounds like a fun idea,” Tubbo admits. “I’ll help you then!” 

“Will you now?” They both turned to see Dream looming over them. “No, I don’t think you will. I think I’ll be killing you first.” 

Tommy’s breath hitched. “O-Okay, we’re gonna go now.” He grabbed Tubbo’s arm and sprinted. “See you, bitch!” 

“We really need to get better at fighting,” Tubbo muttered, as Dream chased them down. “We can’t keep running every time things get shaky.” The memory of the mountain top battle, Dream bearing down on him with his axe, flashed in his mind, and he shuddered.

Despite his still panicked expression, there was a glint in Tommy’s eyes. “That’ll be our new goal for the next bunch of loops then. We get better and better at pvp until we can both beat Dream at least most of the time. That way we can really start standing up to him.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” 

**1.4**

“Did you know we have a second inventory now?” Tubbo said, the night after the declaration was signed again, as they were resting on the wall and looking up at the stars. 

Tommy blinked. “The fuck? Seriously?” 

“Seriously. Last loop was a code-loop, so I was messing around a bit, right?” Tommy nodded. The way their world worked was strange, and it was even stranger in the loops. Sometimes it was a bunch of connected realms, and the SMP was just one of those realms. Sometimes the realms were called Servers, and it was like they were in some sort of game, where people could literally hack into the code of the different worlds. 

Sometimes there were no realms at all, and it was just one singular world, which they nicknamed solo-realms. Those times there could be anything from hundreds to thousands of people living in L’Manberg, and so those were the times it was extra important to prevent events like Doomsday. 

“Okay, so I was wondering if we show up differently in the code, and as I was shifting around, I realized we have some sort of second inventory. It’s not like our normal one, where you can only put a certain amount of items inside though, it’s more like… a really large, interdimensional bag to store stuff in.” 

“And it’s just us who have it?” Tommy clarified. “Do we still have it in this world?”

Tubbo grinned. “That’s the thing! Not only do we still have it, but I put the Bane ‘O Bees in it last time and didn’t take it out when the loop ended, and guess what?” He then proceeded to summon a very familiar black-purple axe, extremely sharp and glowing with enchantments.

“Holy shit,” he breathed. “It’s like an Enderchest for time loops! You’ve gotta show me how to do that.” 

~

The Dream Team prepared for the first battle against the newly formed L’Manberg. In all honesty, Dream was confident that they would crush the so-called country easily. No one there was an expert fighter, and none of them had good armor. There was no way they could stand to the rest of the SMP.

At the very least, if Dream and his friends gave them a show of force, they might give up and stop messing around. He hoped they would. He rather wanted things to go back to normal. 

“They’re coming!” Punz shouted, and Dream readied his axe as out of the trees sprang the five fighters of L’Manberg. 

And they were wearing fully enchanted netherite armor, with just as highly enchanted netherite weapons. 

“How-?” Was all he could get out, before he was assaulted by Tommy and Tubbo. It should’ve been an easy takedown, but to his surprise, they actually had him on the ropes, working together so smoothly it was like he was fighting a single entity. It was all Dream could do to defend himself. 

“Grinding, bitch!” Tommy cheered, as Fundy knocked Punz out with his sword, and Wilbur forced George away from Dream with his bow. The general looked almost as perplexed as Dream was, but he was smiling in his amusement. 

For the first time, Dream had a bad feeling about this. 

**1.5**

“Okay, I’ll bite,” Tubbo said, as they watched the citizens of L’Manberg cheer for Wilbur as their official president, the other running parties looking slightly put off, but also agreeable. “How did you get Quackity not to pool votes with Schlatt?”

Tommy smirked. “It was easy, really. Fifty separate alarm clocks, all hidden in and around George’s bedroom. Big Q never worked with Schlatt because his running mate actually showed up this time around.” 

Sure enough, George was there, with barely-noticeable bags under his eyes, looking rather agitated. 

“That’s brilliant,” Tubbo decided. “I wonder what other problems we can solve if we make sure George doesn’t sleep through things?” 

Tommy snickered. “Most of them, probably. But we should make sure the presidency goes well this time before we set up anything else. Don’t want a repeat of the first time we got Wilbur to win the election. And I hid those alarm clocks real good, he’s not getting rid of them anytime soon.”

~

“Wilbur Soot, if you don’t exile Tommy, I will build these walls to the block limit! I will hire guards, Punz and Sapnap, to patrol the exterior, no trade, no one leaves, or they get slaughtered inside!” Wilbur almost stepped back from the force of Dream’s anger, but managed to stay still. 

Inside though, he was reeling. How could he choose? L’Manberg, his country, his people, or Tommy, his little brother? 

Dream was grinning now. He could see it, since the mask only covered the man’s nose and eyes. “L’Manberg can be independent, but L’Manberg can’t be free-”

“DREAM WASTAKEN, YOU BITCH!” This time, Wilbur did jump at the sound. So did everyone else.

There, storming up to them, was George, goggles perched precariously on top of his messy hair, massive bags under his eyes, and a furious expression. 

Even Dream seemed stunned. “George, what-?”

“No, no, I’m asking the questions here. What that fuck is _this?_ ” George gestured wildly at the rest of them. “First you make me king, then you dethrone me, and now you’re using the fact that I was king as an excuse to fuck around with L’Manberg? _After_ you put Eret back on the throne?”

Dream frowned. “George, Tommy burned down your house, I’m doing this for you-”

“No, that was Ranboo and me,” Fundy spoke up from behind Wilbur. “You just blamed Tommy and refused to hear otherwise.” 

George glared. “I guess we know where your priorities lay, Dream. It’s not certainly not with me or Sapnap, is it? Well, I forgive whoever burned down my house, so if you try and punish someone, it’s for no one but yourself. That’s the only person you care about, anyways.” With that, he stomped off.

Dream followed, a panicked expression on his face. “No, George, wait! It’s not like that! GEORGE!” 

There was a moment of silence as the L’Manbergians watched them go.

“So, does this mean no one is getting exiled?” Ranboo asked.

**1.6**

“So things have been messed up before,” Tommy said. “But this is a whole different level.” 

Rather than starting the loop at the signing of independence like normal, the two of them had found themselves at the readings of the election results. It had taken a minute for them to realize anything else was wrong, but once they had…

This time, there were memories, different ones, that told a different story of the world around them. 

Despite the constantly changing nature of his relationship with Phil and Techno, Wilbur had always been Tommy’s brother, no matter what. But this time was different. 

This time it was _Tubbo_ who was Wilbur’s brother, and Tommy who was the family friend. Tubbo who had the discs, who fought in the final duel and gave said discs up, who was Wilbur’s vice president, and Tommy who followed him around constantly. 

“I’m honestly not sure what to do with this loop,” Tubbo admitted. “I mean, we’re too late to change the election results, so I guess I’ll be kicked out, and you’ll be the spy then?” He didn’t seem happy about that. 

“I guess.” Tommy frowned. As much as he hated going through it himself, he wouldn’t want Tubbo to have to go through Wilbur’s Pogtopia madness on his own. “Actually, I’ll just run out with you two. I’m more than skilled enough to escape Manberg’s goons anyways.” It wasn’t overconfidence. This was his thirtieth loop, the twenty-fifth he’d done with Tubbo, and after all that time and practice, the two of them could more than hold their own against even Dream by themselves. They were even starting to gain ground on Technoblade.

(And wasn’t that a strange thought? That one day Tommy would be skilled enough to beat Techno?) 

“Alright,” Tubbo agreed easily. “Let’s go totally off track for this, yeah?” He smiled, calming down the nerves in Tommy’s chest. 

“Definitely.” If Tubbo was taking Tommy’s role this loop, that meant Dream was going to try and put him in exile. And Tommy refused to let that happen.

**1.7**

“What if we try to make L’Manberg something other than a democracy?” Tubbo offered, the night after they had won their freedom. The other four members looked at him blankly, only one of them being able to fathom why he would say such a thing. 

(Four because Eret hadn’t betrayed them, this time. They were betraying them with increasing rarity, Tommy had noticed. Tubbo theorized that it was due to the fact that between him and Tommy, L’Manberg kept crushing the Dream Team, and so Eret had no reason to switch sides.)

“What do you mean?” Fundy furrowed his brow. “What would it be, if not a democracy?”

“I was thinking of a constitutional monarchy,” Tubbo explained. “Wilbur could be the king, and the four of us could be his parliament. If we write down that the monarchy and parliament have equal power in our nation, then we all get a say in what goes on. And we won’t have to worry about things like elections, because all of us are involved in the government.” 

“Sounds good to me,” Tommy piped up. He was getting a little bored of the monotony again anyways. Eret nodded in agreement.

Wilbur deliberated for a moment. “Alright, I suppose that makes sense. But “King” sounds too SMP-ish. How about Duke instead?”

Tubbo raised his hand. “Everyone in parliament who’s in favor of the monarch being renamed to Duke say “Aye!” 

“Aye!”

* * *

Dream narrowed his eyes, looking genuinely perplexed. “Wait, you’re saying L’Manberg is…” 

“A theocracy,” Wilbur explained gently. “Tommy and I are priests of Church Prime, and therefore the benevolent rulers of our nation. One can live here without worshiping Prime, of course, but they will be expected to follow certain norms and live under our laws.”

“Right. Sure. That makes total sense.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Tommy nodded sagely. Tubbo tried not to laugh.

* * *

Tubbo winced, looking out at the neon jungle that used to be the peaceful and beautiful L’Manberg. “You know, maybe we should’ve thought about what Schlatt and Quackity would do when we structured L’Manberg solely around capitalism.” The men in question had bought everyone else out and currently ruled over the rest of their small society. 

“Yeah, we kinda fucked up on that one.”

* * *

“So, you guys aren’t having any elections?” Quackity asked. “Doesn’t that seem unfair?”

Tommy shook his head. “Haven’t you heard? We’re a direct democracy. We don’t have any leaders. If someone wants to make a change, they propose an idea, and the rest of the country votes on it. That way everyone has equal power.”

“That does make sense.” Quackity looked much more reassured, if a little disappointed.

* * *

I thought we were doing dictatorship before communism,” Tommy pointed out, looking over the sea of posters, all containing the hammer and sickle. 

Tubbo sighed. “Yeah, but you know. We kind of already go through that under Schlatt.”

Tommy winced. “Yeah, that’s fair.”

* * *

“Doesn’t it seem unfair that only the original five founders of L’Manberg can hold positions of power?” Quackity pointed out. 

Fundy just shrugged. “I dunno what you mean. This is an aristocratic oligarchy, and we were all made nobles when the country was formed. If you don’t like it, you could just leave.”

* * *

The two time travelers stared out at a sea of explosions and lava casts. There was nothing left of L’Manberg, just stragglers fighting over meager resources, and Technoblade laughing in the distance. “I don’t know what we expected,” Tommy finally said, voice hoarse. 

“We had to try anarchy at some point.” Tubbo looked upon the grim scene with a sad expression. “At least Techno seems happy.” 

Tommy scoffed. “Yeah. He stopped by Wilbur and I to tell us how proud he was of what we did, and how great of brothers we are. Total bullshit. Fucking asshole.” 

Tubbo put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Once the last few people move on, how about we turn this place into a tourist trap? Starring “Technoblade and his Terrible Ideals.” Would that make you feel better?”

Tommy imagined Techno’s face when he realized they were going to use him as a reason _not_ to try anarchy, and finally smiled. “I think that would help, yeah.” 

**1.8**

Things were very, _very_ wrong. 

Eret knew this as soon as they woke up not in their castle, but in their pre-revolution home. When they went to their castle, they found that it didn’t exist. And after sprinting to the crater of L’Manberg, they realized that not only was there no crater, but there was no L’Manberg either. 

How did this happen? Had they time traveled somehow? 

...Could they change things? Not betray L’Manberg? Fix their mistakes? Prevent Doomsday? 

There were so many possibilities, it was almost overwhelming. 

And then the memories that weren’t theirs hit. Eret rubbed their head and tried to process these new memories, but it was hard because they _didn’t make sense_!

Apparently, Wilbur and Tommy had continued with their drug empire rather than make L’Manberg, had gotten many of the residents addicted to their drugs (not potions, drugs, wasn’t it just potions last time?) And had formed an actual cult around said drugs.

Said drug was Blue, the thing that Ghostbur had given out. 

Eret rushed to the camarvan, almost stumbling with emotion as they saw it there, the original one, still standing. 

Tommy and Tubbo were at the window, scar-less and joyful, grinning at them. “Eret!” Tubbo exclaimed. “Are you ready to try the wonders of Blue and devote yourself to the cause?” 

“I really just don’t understand,” Eret admitted helplessly, still slightly overwhelmed at the sight of them looking so happy. “I thought Blue was Ghostbur’s thing and we were starting L’Manberg, I don’t-” It occurred to them that maybe admitting they were from the future to the two teenagers wasn’t a smart idea. 

The boys exchanged looks. Tubbo dropped the poster he was holding. At once, they both jumped out the window, and Eret found themself being tackle-hugged by two yelling boys, the three of them flying to the ground.

“Holy fuck, you remember!” 

“You know! You know, we’re not alone anymore, holy shit!” 

“This is so fucking pog, I can’t believe it.” 

“Woah, hang on!” With great effort and a bit of soreness, Eret managed to sit up. “You guys have travelled in time as well then? We’re not making L’Manberg this time? I have no idea what’s happening, could you please explain?”

The two shared guilty grins, and Eret couldn’t help but smile. They’d clearly come so far since their last fight. 

“It’s a long and interesting story,” Tubbo said. “We’ve got so much to tell you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.1 And so it begins. At least they're not going at this alone!  
> 1.2 They annoyed Dream until he snapped. Then they ran for their lives.  
> 1.3 It's easier to have fun when you're not getting murdered. They should get on that.  
> 1.4 Subspace Pockets are so much fun. So is playing with worldbuilding!  
> 1.5 George not sleeping through everything is, in fact, the good timeline.  
> 1.6 Ah, variant loops. Dream and Wilbur were very confused by their sudden change in attitude.  
> 1.7 All the ways to run (or not run) a country, Feat. Tubbo Underscore and TommyInnit  
> 1.8 Welcome to the loops, Eret!


	2. 2.0

**2.1**

The Dream Team waited behind the walls, ready for Eret to push the button and let them in. It really was nice, Dream mused, that they’d gotten the man on their side, even if he did have to promise them kingship. 

There was shuffling, and Eret talking about grinding for items. People opening chests Dream knew were empty. 

Then, “It was never meant to be.” The code phrase. The walls slid open-

-to reveal the L’Manberg fighters decked out with enchanted netherite armor and weapons, all with matching grins, looking like they were expecting them. 

Eret’s sunglasses glinted in the light of the enchantments. “Long live the revolution!” 

Tommy cheered and swung his axe, and that was the last thing Dream knew before he was respawning. 

**2.2**

“So you know how Dream has like, fifty different masks this time around, right?” Tubbo nodded, wondering where Tommy was going with this. Judging by his friend’s maniac grin, it was going somewhere very good. 

“Well, remember how last loop you went with me to get all those ‘Curse of Binding’ and ‘Curse of Vanishing’ books?” Tubbo nodded again. “So last night, I snuck into Dream’s house, since he’s even got a house right now, homeless weirdo, and I put that extra sticky pie cream on all of his masks, and then put Curse of Binding and Vanishing on every single one of them.”

Tubbo’s own smile grew. “Tommy, you didn’t.” 

It was at that moment the two of them, still resting in L’Manberg’s walls, could hear a furious screech that sent birds flying everywhere. Tommy promptly burst out laughing, and Tubbo couldn’t help but snicker along. 

Really he was just glad Tommy was starting to genuinely get over his fear of Dream. Time healed all wounds, he supposed, and they had all the time in the world. The fact that both of them could easily beat the man with their fifty-odd years of looping didn’t hurt either. 

“Looks like someone’s having a bad day,” Eret said lightly, from where they were reading a book next to them. They too were clearly trying to hold in their laughter. “Think Dream will realize they’ve all got pie cream in them before he tries the rest on?”

“Probably,” Tommy admitted, still catching his breath. “But it was totally worth it anyways.”

“You’ve gotta come see this!” Fundy called out, from on top of the wall. The three of them made their way up, and were greeted by the glorious view of Dream running around like a headless chicken, screams muffled by what they knew to be pie cream, Sapnap and George running after him. 

“Ieh phnow eh wath you, Lmembreh!” Dream yelled. “Yow pay fowo sisth!” 

“Speak more clearly, Dream!” Wilbur called back, having joined them. “We can’t understand you!”

“I bet he’s swearing vengeance, or something silly like that,” Tommy said loudly, grinning from ear to ear. “You heard him, “ _Yow pay fowo sisth!_ ” Classic.” Tubbo snorted with laughter, and Fundy almost fell off the wall. 

“Guys, this isn’t really that funny,” George said, frowning. “This is a little too much, don’t you think?”

“You burned down our forest! You don’t get to tell us what is or isn’t too much!” 

**2.3**

“I want to drive home the idea,” Schlatt started. “That this celebration is about _Mooooo_.” 

Schlatt paused. The audience froze. Wilbur, not crazy but still a bit off-kilter, looked genuinely surprised from his position next to Tommy. 

Schlatt tried to continue. “A celebration of de _meeoow_ \- what the fuck is going on he _oink_!?” 

At this point, the audience’s fearful silence had turned to muffled snickers, which in turn made Schlatt even more furious. 

“Okay, whatever wise-guy did this, I’m going to _baaaaaaaa_.” The laughter grew in volume, and from next to Schlatt, Tubbo fought hard to maintain his poker face. 

He’d grown much better at being a spy, after all, much less ridiculous excuses, lying more smoothly. He was decently sure Schlatt didn’t suspect him this time. 

Didn’t mean Schlatt still couldn’t be scary, especially when he was drunk. Sure, Tubbo could take him in a fight without breaking a sweat, but it was something different when he was trapped in the white house with the drunk and angry ram hybrid. He knew Tommy felt the same about Dream, because they’d switched places a couple times by now, and so he knew exile, and Tommy knew his position as a spy, better than either of them would like. 

Still, just like Tommy dealing with Dream, pranking Schlatt helped ease the fear, even if only for a while. 

Schlatt had Quackity take the mic, and his face twisted with fury as he realized nothing seemed to be interrupting Quackity’s speech. There was nothing he could do about it. Technoblade wasn’t there - Tommy and Wilbur were staying with a looping Eret this time around. All he could do was grin and bear it. 

_Good_ , Tubbo thought, a bit savagely. _Just like the rest of us_. 

This wasn’t the only prank he had planned for this loop’s festival. 

**2.4**

Tommy looked on the SMP in horror. The land had been affected by a catastrophe the likes of which they had never seen before. They were all alive, sure, but there was no functional society left. 

And it was all because of that bastard in the red coat with the sunglasses!

Tommy glared and turned to Tubbo. “We need to get back at that dickhead! Show him no one messes with our home and gets away with it.”

Tubbo tilted his head innocently. “You mean the Captain? Why? He didn’t do anything.”

“Didn’t- what are you talking about?” Tommy spluttered, trying to grasp his friend’s apparent delusion. “He did this, all of this! We saw him do it! It’s all his fault!”

“No it’s not,” Tubbo insisted. “It’s not his fault, he didn’t do this. He wouldn’t. It can’t be him.” 

Fed up, Tommy grabbed Tubbo’s shoulders and shook him roughly. “Dammit Tubbo, I know you’re looping, I know you know the truth! Stop messing with me!”

Tubbo just smiled and laughed.

**2.5**

It was the start of a new loop, and Tommy collapsed in his bedroom inside his home with a sigh. They always had to get the declarations out of the way first, but once that was over, he headed straight home, not wanting to have to deal with everyone. 

“Tommy?” Well. Almost everyone. Tommy forced himself to sit up as Tubbo and Eret entered the room. “Is everything alright? Did something happen?” 

“A solo loop?” Eret guessed, looking concerned. 

“Yeah. Solo loop.” They’d learned that while most of the time he and Tubbo looped together, occasionally it would only be one of them looping. And Eret never looped on their own, always time travelling with one of the boys. 

Tubbo sat down next to him, and Eret perched themselves on a chest. “Want to talk about it?” Tubbo asked quietly. “You don’t have to.” 

“Nah, it’s fine.” Tommy stared resolutely at the floor. “It’s just, another loop where Wilbur was the only one I was family with. Phil barely even knew me, and Techno was just Phil’s old war buddy and nothing more.” He gripped the bedsheets in his clenched fists. “It’s so fucking annoying. Why can’t these loops make up their mind? Are Phil and Techno my family or not?” He let out a harsh breath. “And sometimes they are my family and they still go through with Doomsday, still hurt me. And then in some of those alternate loops they don’t do any of those things and they actually care.”

Tubbo rubbed his back, and Tommy realized he was shaking. “It’s just, why can’t it be one or the other? If they were never family it would be easier to hate them. If they were always family it would be easier to love them. Why does Phil keep changing from a bad dad to a good dad and back again? I don’t know how to feel about any of them anymore, besides Wilbur! And he goes fucking crazy in baseline!” 

Suddenly, Tubbo and Eret were both giving him a hug, and Tommy realized he'd started to cry. Resolutely, he wiped away his tears before even thinking about hugging back. “Guys, I’m fine,” he backtracked awkwardly. “It’s not - it sucks. But, I just gotta deal with it, right?” 

“Not alone, you don’t,” Eret insisted. “I’m so sorry you have to deal with that, but you don’t need to go through it by yourself.” 

“Eret’s right!” Tubbo added. “Tommy, you’re my best friend and brother all in one, no matter what. It might not make up for Phil and Techno, but we’ve got you, okay?”

Tommy isn’t choked up. He’s not. “Sure. Clingy bitches.” He hugged them back tightly. 

This was gonna be a good loop. He could feel it. 

**2.6**

Tubbo blinked and looked down at himself. Rather than his green button-up shirt, his uniform, or his suit, he was wearing what looks to be some sort of purple and red royal regalia. On top of his head was what he’s pretty sure is a small crown. 

Then the new memories hit. 

“Woah. Huh,” he said out loud. “This is new.” 

“Yeah.” Sitting on the throne next to his, Eret looked just as stunned, and they were decked out in even fancier clothing. 

Apparently, he, Eret, and Niki were all royal siblings, ruling over the wintery wonderland that was the Kingdom of Snowchester, a prosperous land where the rulers were absolutely beloved by their people. 

It was kind of neat, actually. Sure, they’d had loops where things are different, but never to this much of an extent. And even if Niki had been acting a little weird near the end of their original loops, she’d always been so kind before, and they’d almost always managed to prevent her breakdown from occurring. 

And the idea of having Eret and Niki as his siblings - he really liked that. 

Tubbo turned to Eret. “What do you think we should do with this loop?”

Eret contemplated the question. “Well, my memories say that Technoblade is part of the Antarctic Empire on the other end of the world, so we most likely won’t need to worry about him. There is a nearby Kingdom called SMP, and my best guess is that we’ll run into conflict with them.” They smirked. “Lucky us, we’ve got a many-time king and president on our side.” 

Tubbo grinned. “If they try anything, they won’t know what hit them.” 

He might just make some nukes as well, for extra protection. This was Snowchester, after all. 

~

“I can’t believe we have to go to another Ball,” Tubbo groaned, sulking in his room. Even when it was a solo-realm loop and there were tons of people in L’Manberg, there had never been this much political stuffiness! At the very least, there wasn’t any of that “suitor” bullshit royals had to deal with in books.

“I know, I know. But we can try and make it fun, right?” Niki said, sitting on the edge of his bed with a soft smile. “King George is going to be there, and we can always make fun of the faces he pulls when he doesn’t realize we all know he’s napping.” 

Tubbo snickered at the reminder. It seemed that some things never did change. Feeling a bit more energized, he let Niki pull him out of bed. 

She might not have been like Eret, who was looping, but Tubbo really liked having Niki as his sister. His loop memories of the three of them growing up together and both of them being doting older siblings didn’t hurt either. 

He’d never had older siblings dote on him before. Techno and Wilbur certainly didn’t. He kind of liked it. 

So even though he didn’t like the idea of Balls, Tubbo let Niki lead him downstairs anyways. 

**2.7**

As soon as they could get away, the three loopers gathered at Tommy’s dirt house without much prompting, faces filled with excitement. 

“You’ll never guess-!”

“I can’t believe-!”

“I finally learned what’s going on!”

“Really?” Eret asked. Out of the three of them, they looked the least excited, although still wide-eyed. “I was just in a completely different universe with completely different people and strange new powers.”

“So were all of us, it seems,” Tommy told him, eyes sparkling. “Check this out.” With that, he held out his hand, and a flame sparked up inside it, burning brightly. “I can do this cool thing called firebending now, where I can create and control fire! Sapnap’s gonna be so jealous.” He grinned. “Also, this guy named Sokka was the local Anchor and told me all about the loops.” 

“Apparently I replaced the Anchor of the universe I was in,” Tubbo said, looking just as excited. “But there were other loopers there, and they gave me the lowdown on what’s going on. Plus, I got this!”

He opened his palm, and a burst of light shot out from right above it, expanding until it was about the size of a sword. It settled into a solid shape, and there in Tubbo’s hand was a strange key-like weapon, silver and bronze, decorated in gears and colorful metallic flowers.

“It’s called a keyblade,” he informed them. “There’s a huge complicated story behind it that I couldn’t totally keep up with even though I lived it, but the local loopers helped a lot with explaining the whole multiverse thing.” 

“I ah, didn’t meet any sort of “local loopers”, like you guys,” Eret admitted, “But I did get some new abilities.” They concentrated, and there was a burst of light before a strange glowing figure bigger than a person appeared behind them. Then it vanished, and Eret sighed. “That’s called a persona. Robin Hood, to be exact. But would you guys mind telling me what you learned?” 

The boys looked at each other, and Tommy waved for Tubbo to go ahead. “Okay, how do we put this…”

~

“So, let me see if I have this right,” Eret said. “So our universe is just one in this massive supercomputer tree called Yggdrasil, but the computer tree is currently broken. So the gods, called admins, are working to fix it, and in the meantime, they’re putting our lives on repeat to avoid further damage to the tree.

“When people remember, we call it being Awake. You can have variant loops where things are different than the original, or baseline, or you could have fused loops, where you’re either added to another world or take the place of someone there.

“Every world has at least one person called an Anchor, who loops all the time and keeps everything stable. Some worlds have more than one though, and this is one of them, because you’re both anchors. Also, it’s gonna take an infinite amount of time before these loops are fixed, so we’re stuck repeating time for eternity.” Eret paused to take a breath. “Did I get all that right?” 

“Basically,” Tommy agreed. Eret sagged in relief. “You okay? That persona thing seemed pretty cool.”

“I’m just glad that means I really was taking the place of someone else,” Eret admitted. “That loop my name was Akechi Eret, and my memories were of me becoming a murderer at age fourteen in order to boost up and then take down my father. I had killed hundreds with this power, by going into their minds and destroying their psyche, all before I Awoke.” 

Tubbo’s eyes widened with horror. “Eret, that’s awful. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” 

Eret gave him a weary smile. “It’s fine. I joined the heroes as soon as I found them. Asked them if I could help them set things right and take down the corrupt adults, and when it was all over, I handed myself into the police.” 

Tommy frowned. “What happened before you awoke wasn’t your fault though!” 

Eret shook their head. “Yeah, I know. But it made me feel better.” They smiled at the younger boys. “Hey, it’s alright. We all know what’s going on now! And we’ve got some pretty cool powers. Oh, and check this out!” Out of their inventory, they pulled a _genuine gun_. “I saved this from the last loop as well.” 

A moment of awed silence. 

Then Tommy grinned. “Oh this loop is going to be so much fun.” 

**2.8**

“You know, when Tommy said he could handle the Dream Team on his own, I didn’t imagine this,” Wilbur managed to say, as they watched Tommy fending off the four enemies with a mixture of fire, duel wielding dao, and martial arts. 

“At least he’s having fun,” Tubbo offered, watching with a smile as Dream scrambled to put out the fires on his sweatshirt jacket and Tommy turned to kick George in the head, still laughing. 

Wilbur clearly had no rebuttal to that.

* * *

“Alright,” Tubbo said with a smile. “Now that my speech is over, I’ll be taking my leave.” 

Schlatt stood up immediately. “Oh no you won’t. We’ve still got plans for you, Tubbo, my right hand man. You won’t leave just yet.”

“No, I will,” Tubbo insisted brightly. And with that he jumped up… and up, and up and up, before floating gently through the air, avoiding the arrows being shot at him. 

Having a keyblade was fun. The other skills that came with it, like sort-of flight and massive stamina boosts, were even more useful. And the look on Schlatt and Quackity and Techno’s faces were absolutely worth it.

* * *

Doomsday was just beginning, because there would always be universes where Dream and Techno and Phil teamed up to destroy L’Manberg, Butcher Army or not. And so as the three attackers were setting up, Eret climbed onto the quickly forming obsidian grid and walked up to Techno. 

“If you do this, I will stop you,” they told the piglin hybrid.

Techno grinned. It was always a toss up, just what Techno would look like, but he seemed more human than pig this time around. “Oh are you, _King Eret?_ And how exactly are you going to do that? You think you can beat me?”

“I think I can shoot you,” Eret told him frankly, with a pleasant smile. They pulled out their gun and took aim. 

_Technoblade was shot by The_Eret using GUN_

_Philza was shot by The_Eret using GUN_

_Dreamwastaken was shot by The_Eret using GUN_

And so Doomsday was once again prevented.

**2.9**

This was a very weird loop. 

For some reason, Tubbo was on a spaceship, and a broken one at that. At first he was nervous, but then he got his loop memories and realized he was in some sort of game where death was never permanent, and one to three people were supposed to go around killing others and trying to get away with it. 

Neither Tommy nor Eret were awake, which made things a little trickier, especially since Tubbo couldn’t find it in himself to kill Tommy, even if it was just a game.

There was however, another looper, one who wasn’t originally from his world. 

One he recognized. 

“ _Captain?_ ” Tubbo gasped. “You’re awake! And you’re my dad! I mean, you’ve been my dad sometimes, it’s very confusing-”

“Hey, it’s all good.” Captain Jordan Sparklez put his hand on Tubbo’s shoulder. The older man was beaming. “You’ve been my son in quite a few loops as well. I didn’t realize-” He seemed to choke up a bit. “I didn’t know you’d be looping.” 

“I’ve been looping for a while!” Tubbo informed him eagerly. “With Tommy and Eret, even though they’re not awake this time. And you’re looping too, but it’s different?” He frowned. “Wait, are all the loops where you’re my dad fused loops? Because there’s been a lot of them.”

“I’m not sure,” the Captain admitted. “We should probably figure that out. But it looks like the game’s starting now.” He smiled and held out his hand. “Would you like to play together?”

Tubbo beamed and took it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2.1 Oh how the tables have turned.  
> 2.2 Sometimes the best weapon is creativity.  
> 2.3 A little bit of revenge. As a treat.  
> 2.4 It can't be the Captain. It just can't.  
> 2.5 When your family dynamic is so confusing that the loops can't keep it straight. Poor Tommy.  
> 2.6 Royalty au! Tommy's at the other end of the world, in the Antarctic Empire.  
> 2.7 Finally, they know what's happening to them.  
> 2.8 GUN  
> 2.9 This takes place before 2.4, for context. Also, meet Captain Jordan Sparklez, the anchor for the Mianite loops! He'll show up on occasion, although he's not really a major figure.


	3. 3.0

**3.1**

“Festival’s coming up again.”

“Yeah, it is.” Tommy watched Tubbo look out at the horizon from their bench and sighed. Mellohi played softly in the background. Technically, he already had about fifty versions of his disks tucked away in his second inven- _subspace pocket_. Whatever the other loopers called it. Not to mention several versions of other disks he and Tubbo had gotten together over the loops. He could afford to play one. 

“Hey, Tubbo.” Tommy cleared his throat awkwardly. “You know, for all our looping, we’ve never actually run away at this point.”

Tubbo looked at him, surprised. “You’re right, we haven’t. Huh.” Then it seemed to hit him. “Are you saying we should change that this time around?”

“It might be nice,” Tommy admitted. “To not have to deal with this realm’s bs. Or this land, I guess, since this is a solo-realm loop. And Eret’s not awake, so we’re not leaving them behind.”

“We don’t usually explore the rest of the world, when it’s more than just Dream’s realm,” Tubbo agreed, clearly warming up to the idea. “Who knows what we’ll find out there? It could be something totally new and interesting.” 

He grinned. “I say we go for it.” 

~

Later that day, both Wilbur and Schlatt found handwritten notes on their beds. _“Gone on vacation. Might be back later. If not, don’t go looking._

_Tommy/Tubbo”_

And so by the time anyone realized they were missing, Tommy and Tubbo were off on a brand new adventure.

**3.2**

“Are you sure about this?” Eret muttered to Tubbo, as the five fighters of L’Manberg equipped their elytras. Eret’s temporary wings appeared, pink and blue and purple. 

“Positive,” Tubbo confirmed. “This loop, the End doesn’t exist, so Dream didn’t ban it. He’ll have no idea what’s coming.” 

“Were did you even get these?” Wilbur wondered, as he equipped his own elytra, deep brown and blue wings flashing into existence. Next to him, Fundy was examining his own temporary orange wings with awe.

“They’re a gift from home,” Tubbo replied easily, feeling his own green and purple wings slide into place. “Ready to go?”

A flash of bright read, and Tommy was ready as well. “You bet. Let’s go kick their assess!” 

~

When L’Manberg declared their independence, the Dream Team was ready for almost anything the scrappy quintet could come up with. 

_Almost_ being the key word. 

How could they have ever expected the entire group to sprout wings and divebomb them with flaming arrows!? All they could do was desperately run for cover.

“I can see why Dream banned the End,” Tubbo told Tommy, as the two circled lazily in the air. “These are totally game breakers.” 

“Our existence as loopers makes us game breakers,” Eret pointed out as they soared on by.

“You know what? Fair point.” 

**3.3**

“Okay, so this egg thing is starting to become a real problem,” Tommy muttered, gingerly stepping over the vines that had crossed the prime path. “I mean, it always is, but usually we’ve just been ignoring it. We should probably start doing something about it.” 

Tubbo winced and nodded. The last loop, the egg had been found early, and had gotten half the server under its control by the time the loop ended. The three of them seemed to be immune so far, but who knew how long that would last?

“You’re right. Best to shut this thing down before it gets to the point it was last loop. Do you have any ideas?”

Tommy grinned.

* * *

Bad frowned at the room below him. He’d found the strange egg inside of it yesterday, and rather liked it. But now the room seemed to be completely flooded with water. 

Then the water started boiling. Bad jumped back with a yelp, nearly knocking Ant over. “What the muffin is happening down there?”

Ant looked just as perplexed. “No idea. But we can’t go down, we’ll get boiled.” 

“But the egg…” Strangely enough though, the longer the water simmered below them, the less worried Bad felt about the egg. Almost like a weight he didn’t realize was there was being lifted from his mind. 

Eventually, the water stopped boiling, and started draining away, so Bad cautiously made his way down, Ant following him. Sitting in the corner of the room was an extremely smooth red egg, no vines to be seen.

“Hey guys!” Bad looked over to see Tommy standing nearby, blue fire in his hands and a smug expression on his face. “Hard boiled egg, anyone?”

* * *

“You think this little thing will work?” Tommy wondered, looking at the bulky rod in his hands. 

Tubbo smirked. “Made it in a modded loop. Try pressing the button.”

Tommy did so, and yelped as the rod expanded, larger and longer, until it was what could only be a massive flamethrower. He looked up at Tubbo. “Is this…?”

“Soulfire flamethrower,” Tubbo confirmed. “I made a bunch of them, and handed them out to those who are almost always egg-haters.” They entered the egg room together, and Tubbo expanded his own flamethrower. “Ready to do some weed killing together?”

Already there were Eret, Sam, Fundy, and Sapnap, the latter grinning like a maniac. “Are we ever!” 

Eret balked. “Tubbo, no offense, but are you sure giving Sapnap a flamethrower was a good idea?”

Seconds later, the room was filled with blue fire and maniacal laughter. 

“Seems like it’s working out to me,” Sam offered.

* * *

The two anchors looked out morosely from their base in the clouds, at the red vines that spread all across the SMP. “We couldn’t even fight them in this loop, we weren’t Awake in time!” Tommy lamented. “What the hell are we going to do?”

Tubbo looked equally grim. “At this point, I think there’s only one option.” 

“And that is?”

Tubbo pulled a nuke out of his subspace pocket. “We go big boom.”

**3.4**

“You exploded the server so hard it _updated?_ ” Eret repeated incredulously, legs swinging off the edge of the Farlands. “Seriously?” 

Tubbo rubbed the back of his neck and gave them an embarrassed smile as Tommy groaned next to him. “Haha, yeah. On the plus side, we got to see 1.17 for a minute before the loop restarted!”

“And now we’re stuck in the Farlands,” Eret sighed. “Could be worse, I guess. So, what was the update like?”

**3.5**

“You know Tubbo, I’m not sure about this,” Ranboo admitted, as Tubbo put the finishing touches on his new project. “Doesn’t this seem like a little bit much? If we use these against our enemies, then we’d be worse then all of them.” 

“Don’t worry, we won’t actually use them,” Tubbo assured him, taking off his goggles and wiping the sweat off his forehead. “They’re a preventative measure.” 

It was just him looping this time, after all, and he’d Awoke at the point where New L’Manberg was still being formed. If he could prevent Doomsday this time, then he would. Plus, he’d never made them at this point anyways, and he was curious!

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Niki said with a smile, as she finished checking the status of another one of the nukes. “Like Tubbo said, they won’t really be used. And we can keep L’Manberg safe for once.” She and Jack had offered their help with the project, and since they weren’t planning on killing anyone with the nukes at this point, Tubbo had agreed. 

“It’ll all work out,” Tubbo promised his non-looping friend. “You’ll see!”

~

“Tubbo, if you do not exile Tommy-”

“I’m gonna have to stop you right there, Dream,” Tubbo said coolly, hands behind his back, looking every bit the president he was. “Whatever you’re planning, it won’t end well for you. I assume you saw the results of New L’Manberg’s weapons test?”

Dream looked at him blankly for a moment, then rapidly paled. Which made sense, as Tubbo had made sure Dream had seen said results. “That was L’Manberg’s doing?” The masked man said, carefully.

“Yes, it was,” Tubbo confirmed. “Now, we’d rather not use our weapons against you. We like the look of the SMP, after all. But if you harm L’Manberg in any way, we will have no choice but to retaliate. And you will no longer have your SMP.”

Dream looked obviously torn, caught between his obsession with Tommy and his obsession with controlling the SMP. Tubbo watched nervously as the two sides battled each other. 

Finally, Dream bared his teeth in what could almost be mistaken for a smile. “Fine. Keep your vice president. We will negotiate further at a later date.” 

“That’s right! Suck it green man!” The unawake Tommy called out from behind Tubbo. Dream turned back to them with a glare, and Tubbo stepped in front of Tommy, smiling cooly. 

“I think it’s best you leave, Dream,” he said. 

Really, who knew nukes would be so effective for negotiations?”

**3.6**

“Tommy, put your stuff in the hole.”

Tommy grimaced. He hated these loops, where he Awoke at the point where he was already in exile. Where there was no way to prevent it from happening. Where he was stuck with Dream, who was currently looking down at him from across that _damned hole_. 

He - what could he do? Could he escape? 

He _could_ , Tommy realized, and the thought hit him like a ton of bricks. Ender, he could escape Dream _easily_! He had almost two hundred years of fighting skills under his belt at this point. He could absolutely take Dream down in a fight and escape. 

Dream couldn’t hold him here. Not anymore. 

Ender, Tommy felt so much lighter. 

Still, he looked down at that hole, and he hated that hole, more than anything else. It was a reminder of everything Dream did to him, all of his traumas. 

_“Tommy,”_ Dream insisted, holding up his axe threateningly. 

“Alright, okay!” Tommy said instinctively, sliding off his armor. Ender, he fucking hated this. He fucking hated Dream. 

He put his armor in the hole.

“Put everything in the hole,” Dream stressed.

“Everything?” And then, an idea started to form. It wouldn’t take the trauma away, Tommy knew, but if he could make the image of the hole hurt less… “Fine, fine.”

And so he took out his normal inventory items. His diamond pickaxe, his shovel, his sword and bow. And then he reached into his subspace and pulled out a netherite shovel, tossing it into the hole. And then another shovel, and another shovel, and another shovel, all enchanted netherite. 

Even with the mask on, Tommy could tell that Dream’s eyes were going wide as he unloaded shovel after shovel after netherite shovel. “What the fuck,” the man finally said. “How the fuck do you have this many shovels?”

“Hold your horses, I’m not done yet.” Honestly, Tommy had about seventy more shovels in his subspace, just like he had a massive amount of every other tool. But he was going for something funny here, so instead of another shovel, he pulled out a netherite hoe. And another, and another.

“What the fuck,” Dream muttered faintly. 

“What’s wrong?” Tommy asked, biting back a laugh. “Have I got too many hoes for you? Oh check it out, this one’s extra enchanted!” Dream looked up from the hole, just in time to take a massive netherite hammer to the face. 

Tommy didn’t wait around for the man to recover. He snatched up his items and booked it, laughing all the way. 

**3.7**

Tubbo let out something that seemed between a mix of a sob and a sigh, and faceplanted into his bed at his jungle home. Tommy sat on the bed next to him, feeling more than a little worried. 

“Hey big T,” he finally said. “Bad loop?”

“No,” was the muffled response. Tommy frowned. 

“Something up with this loop?” He guessed.

“Mmm.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

Tubbo was silent for a long moment, before finally sitting up. He looked tired, and angry, and hurting, and Tommy vowed that he’d murder whatever did this to his friend in this loop. 

“Schlatt’s my dad in this loop,” Tubbo finally admitted, brushing aside some of his hair to reveal tiny horns. “Again. He was the one who left me in the box that Phil found me in.” 

Tommy gaped at him. “Seriously? Fuck man, I’m so sorry.” Then the rest of the second sentence hit him. “Wait, again?”

Tubbo nodded miserably. “He’s my dad in maybe a third of all the loops. The Captain is also my dad about a third of the time, and the other third, it’s either someone else I know, or I just can’t remember.” He gripped one of his horns, looking like he was contemplating trying to yank it out of his head, and Tommy grabbed his arm and guided it away on instinct. “It’s not fucking fair. Why _him?_ Why Schlatt? Why couldn’t it just be the Captain? I love when the Captain is my dad, even when he’s not Awake as well!” 

“Tubbo…” Tommy understood, he did. There were plenty of loops where Phil was a shit dad, even if it was mostly just him being neglectful. But then he tried to imagine if Dream was his dad, and he physically shuddered.

Tubbo sniffed. “It doesn’t even stop him from having me executed. He drinks and hurts me and has me executed just as often when he’s my dad as when he isn’t. Except it’s worse, because sometimes he comes back as a ghost and tries to act like there was any love between us.” Tommy kept a firm grip on his arm, and so Tubbo used his other one to rub his eyes. “It’s just not fair. I hate him so much. I hate having traits like his. I hate being reminded that I’m related to him this time around. It feels like some sick joke the universe is playing on me.” 

Tommy reached over and gave his best friend a hug. “I’m sorry. That’s super fucked up. If - If it helps, I don’t see you any differently because of it, and neither would Eret. He might be your dad sometimes, but you’re Eret’s brother and my best friend no matter what, okay? Don’t forget that.” 

Tubbo hugged him back tightly, and nodded into his shoulder. “Do you think - can we run away before the election results? I can’t - I can’t deal with him this time.” 

“No problem,” Tommy promised. “Purpled’s UFO actually flies this time, we can ask him how he made it and create our own flying ship.” 

And so that was the plan. 

**3.8**

“Tommy?”

“Yeah, big T?”

Tubbo squinted out at the extremely terraformed version of the SMP. “Why has every block been replaced with cobblestone?”

“Cause it looks better this way, duh.”

“Uh-huh.” Tubbo turned to walk away. “Welp. I’m leaving the realm this loop.”

“Wait, no! Tubbo, come back! I’ll leave some non-cobblestone space for you, promise!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3.1 It was a fantastic vacation loop, honestly.  
> 3.2 Gamebreakers for Gamebreakers.  
> 3.3 Just some of the more interesting methods they went with.  
> 3.4 Oops?  
> 3.5 Speak softly and carry a big stick. A big, explosive, devastating stick.  
> 3.6 Tommy wins these. There's always something cathartic about knowing you're so much stronger and better and happier than your abuser.  
> 3.7 DadSchlatt may be interesting and fun to write, but it is neither interesting nor fun to live through. Quite the opposite, really.  
> 3.8 You knew he was gonna try it at some point.


	4. 4.0

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few terms from the Looping Universe, as they'll be showing up in future chapters:
> 
> **Mikasa Syndrome:** Where, for some reason, two or more of the same looper find themselves in one loop. They both/each have all their looping memories, powers, and access to their subspace pocket. In the next loop, the looper can remember all the different sets of memories.
> 
> **Chrysalis Syndrome:** Where a new looper experiences their first loop in a variant or fused loop, and this second loop influences their personality going forwards equally or moreso than their original timeline personality. Differences from their original self can vary. 
> 
> **Sakura Syndrome:** Where a looper starts treating non-loopers as unfeeling entities and toys, and other loopers as expendable lab rats, on the basis that "everything will reset next loop, so nothing I do really matters". Harmless pranks aren't indicative of this syndrome. 
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!

4.1

“I have to admit,” Eret said, as they prepared for battle, “I really should’ve seen this one coming.”

Honestly, they were a bit surprised it hadn’t happened before. It seemed in this loop, Wilbur was in charge of the L’Manberg SMP, and the Dream team was forming their own independent nation, with Dream as their charismatic general. 

Tommy shrugged from his space next to him. “Hey, maybe it’ll be fun to play the bad guys in this war for once! We just need to make sure Wilbur doesn’t become a monster like Dream did, and it won’t be so bad.”

“Sure.” They still didn’t like the idea of working against the new nation again, but at least they were doing so with their friends. The thought struck them: “Do you think there’s going to be a traitor?”

“Don’t see why not,” Tubbo piped up. “Bet it’ll be Sapnap.”

“No way,” Tommy refuted. “It’s totally gonna be Punz. I’d bet my dao on it.” 

**4.2**

“Hey, you. You’re finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, same as us. Walked right into that imperial ambush.”

Tubbo blinked wearily, as he both woke and Awoke. He was dressed in rags, hands tied together with rope, bumping along a cobblestone path inside of a cart with three other people. 

Then the loop memories hit. 

_Oh_. This should be interesting. 

~

Tubbo dashed around the watchtower, drawing his bow and aiming it at the dragon. From what his loop memories told him about this world, dragons were supposed to be extinct. No one seemed to have told this dragon, or the one who attacked Helgen. 

Still, Tubbo had fought the ender dragon countless times before, which certainly gave him experience when fighting dragons. And this dragon couldn’t even destroy the surrounding areas each time it landed! 

His arrow flew true, and pierced the already injured dragon through the eye. It let out one final roar and collapsed on the ground, before glowing golden and turning into light and bones. Before Tubbo could do anything, the light surrounded him, when inside him, and suddenly he felt so much stronger than before. 

Tubbo turned to Irileth. “I’m guessing that’s not a normal occurrence?” 

The dark elf looked at him like he was crazy. “You could say that. It’s best you go see the Jarl, I think.” 

~

“You wish to join the thieves guild?” Brynjolf repeated. “I’ve seen you before - aren’t you a high ranking member of that wizard’s college?”

“I am, that’s true,” Tubbo confirmed. “But I want to round my skills out a lot more.” Studying at the College of Winterhold had been a lot of fun, and Tubbo had learned tons of magic that he couldn’t wait to show Tommy and Eret. But with all his focus at home being on combat, learning the art of stealth here couldn’t hurt. 

Brynjolf gave him an amused smile. “Alright, since you’re so eager. But you’ll need to prove your worth first.”

Tubbo gave him a mock salute. “I’m sure I’m up to the challenge!” 

~

“So, your dad is an evil vampire lord who wants to blot out the sun and bring the world into eternal darkness so vampires never have to deal with the sun again,” Tubbo repeated. Serana nodded. “Doesn’t he realize that if there’s no sun, no crops can grow, and humans will eventually die out, leaving no one for vampires to feed on?

Serana sighed. “I don’t think he does. He seems to have gotten stupider as he’s gotten older, or at least he’s so obsessed with his plan he doesn’t realize the natural consequences of it. Either way, we must stop him.” 

~

“Another black book?” Frea asked, as she and Tubbo looked upon another one of Hermaeus Mora’s creations. “And you’re going to enter it?”

Tubbo shrugged. “Look, I know how stories like these go. Eventually Mora’s gonna have me killing Miraak and taking his place as champion because that’s just how people - er, daedra - like him work. And I would just nope out of this whole thing, but then Miraak would win. So I might as well make the most of the fact that Apocrypha contains literally all known knowledge in this world. And I can actually read it this time!”

“What do you mean?”

“Never mind. Nothing.”

**4.3**

Prince Tubbo and Iceman Tommy stood by and watched as the newly crowned King Eret froze Prince Dream in a block of ice. “They seem to be having fun.” 

“Definitely more than they did with their persona powers,” Tommy agreed. Technically he wasn’t even supposed to be here yet, but as soon as he found out who the royal siblings were, he’d decided to sneak in anyways. It was definitely worth it. “It’s too bad they won’t be making an ice castle now.”

“Who’s to say I won’t?” Eret chuckled as they walked up to their brother and his friend. “And that’s not all - check this out.” 

With a wave of their hand, their formal kingly wear was replaced with a sparkling blue dress, receiving gasps and applause from onlookers. 

“No fair,” Tommy sighed. “You make everything look good.” 

**4.4**

Tubbo looked wide-eyed at his friend and brother in all but blood. “So, this is a bit new?”

“Yeah.” Tommy grinned awkwardly, flexing his new wings a bit. “Apparently this is a “Good dad Phil” loop, and he’s my bio dad, and so I got the wings from him.” Although they certainly looked different, Tubbo noted, as they were brilliant shades of red and orange rather than deep browns. “Plus I got a little extra. Check this out!”

He promptly burst into flames.

Tubbo stared. “...You’re a phoenix.”

“Hell yeah!” Tommy extinguished the flames, grinning widely and looking only mildly singed. “I was thinking that any time Dream gets within two feet of me this loop, I’m just gonna burst into flames.”

Tubbo smiled. “I’ll get the camera ready.”

**4.5 (Credit to FlamingHeroKai)**

Tubbo read off his speech with the ease and boredom of one who had done so far too many times before. (472 times, to be precise. He was keeping track for as long as he could.) 

The real question would lie in what Schlatt did next. This was a loop where Schlatt was his dad, and they both currently knew it. Schlatt had found out early in his administration, which had been… interesting. When Schlatt was sober, he was at least a little decent, if still extremely rude and insulting.

He wasn’t usually sober though. 

Not exactly a model of good parenting.

He finished his speech, and Schlatt rose to his feet. The typical “I know what you’ve been up to,” speech began, only with mentions to the fact that Tubbo was also family, not just his right hand man, and Tubbo sighed. Techno was called onto the stage, and it looked like this wouldn’t change here. 

And then, a loud _“Ahem,”_ could be heard, and Tubbo turned to see the Captain walking up onto the stage. 

Immediately his mood brightened. “Captain! You’re here? I didn’t know!” This was a realms loop, which meant more of a chance for the Captain to be around, but since Schlatt was his dad, Tubbo hadn’t expected the man to actually show up.

Jordan reached him and ruffled his hair fondly. “Just found your realm, actually. Decided I’d come pay a visit.” He turned to Schlatt, a cold glint in his eye. “You’re his father at the moment?” 

“What the fuck does that mean?” Schlatt gaped, looking surprised and angry. “Get the fuck off my stage!”

“In a bit, I promise.” The Captain smiled. “I’m glad I caught you. I’d like to battle for custody of Tubbo.” At this point, everyone in the audience was murmuring with confusion, and Tubbo couldn’t fight his own smile, warmth rising in his chest. “Right now, if you want.” He drew his sword.

Quackity seemed to take the moment to hold his arms out between the two men. “Woah, woah! Is this really the best time for this?”

“Now’s as good a time as any,” Jordan said lightly. “Where I’m from, a duel is customary if one wants custody of another’s child.” A lie, but Tubbo was having too much fun to say anything. “So, I’m challenging you. Draw your sword, Schlatt.” 

Schlatt was now looking highly disturbed and a little nervous. “Fuck, just fucking take him if he means that much to you.”

“Oh, I will. But we’re still gonna sword fight.” Jordan turned to Techno, who was standing there looking awkward. “Hey, do you mind giving him a sword?” 

Techno looked between the two men, then shrugged, tossing a sword to Schlatt. “Why not? I’ve got no stake in this.” At this point, even Quackity had backed out of the way, and people in the crowd were cheering both men on. 

“You know, considering you’ve lived with us for years, I’d think Phil would want a say in this custody duel thing,” Techno whispered to Tubbo, as he climbed out of the box. The two watched with amusement as the Captain handily kicked Schlatt’s ass, drawing it out for the amusement of the crowd.

Tubbo smiled. “He’d probably challenge Phil too, if it came to that.” Schlatt was disarmed and knocked out cold, and the crowd roared. Jordan walked back over to them. 

“I think I’m gonna build a tree home to stay in. Would you like to help?”

“Of course!” 

They might not be related at times, but Tubbo really did have the best dad. 

**4.6**

Tubbo honestly had no idea how to feel about this loop. 

Rather than Schlatt or the Captain, Puffy was his mom this time around, and she had dropped him off in the SMP with his brother. 

His brother, who, in this loop, was Dream. 

The thing was, Dream wasn’t like Schlatt, who was consistently bad, with only the occasional variant loop where he was good. Dream fluctuated, a lot. Especially if the loop started before Wilbur blew up L’Manberg. 

Sometimes he was a monster from the very beginning. Sometimes he was an overworked young man just trying to keep his family together, who slowly went insane. Sometimes it turned out that he was possessed by a Dreamon the whole time, and never did anything bad at all. 

All three loopers had agreed that any Dream who tried to build the obsidian walls and exile Tommy was not to be given any sort of chances. And quite often they would be cautious around earlier versions of the man, only to find out he was still fucking crazy near the beginning of the loop as well. 

And then they would be hit with loops like this. Loops where Dream was genuinely kind. 

“Tubbo? Are you alright?” Dream asked, looking as sincere as this version of him was. 

Tubbo forced a smile. “I’m fine! I’m just gonna go look for Tommy, since we’re here.” He could see the flash of hurt in Dream’s face as he ran off, but _fuck_ , Tubbo couldn’t deal with that right now. 

He’d - he’d try and figure it out. Later. 

**4.7**

“How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the SMP by providence impoverished in squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar?” Eret asked rhetorically. 

Tommy sighed. Of course at some point they were going to have a Hamilton loop, and of course he was going to be Hamilton. Fuck, he wasn’t looking forward to being shot by an unawake Eret. Maybe if he changed some things up…?

That was for later though. Tommy turned to Tubbo. “At least things could be worse, right?” He muttered. “I mean, I could be listening to Wilbur singing ‘Meant to be Yours’ in Pogtopia.”

“You totally jinxed yourself, Toms,” Tubbo muttered back. Let’s just get through this one, yeah? At least the singing will be fun.”

“At least there’s that,” Tommy agreed, as Wilbur started singing his own part of the first number. “Who are you, by the way?”

Tubbo gave him a grim smile. “Well, I’m John Laurens in the place to be…” 

**4.8**

“So, I had another fused loop, and got some cool new skills,” Tommy said cheerfully, by way of greeting. 

“Oh?” Tubbo perked up. “Do you already have a plan of when to show them off?” Tommy nodded. 

“It’ll be a little while,” he admitted, “But it’s gonna be a lot of fun when it finally happens.” 

Tubbo couldn’t wait. 

~

They were in the Pogtopia ravine, and Tommy was about to fight Techno in the pit. Tubbo hadn’t died to him at the festival, he almost never did while he was Awake, but Techno had still shot everyone else at the festival, including Niki, and so Tommy still seemed furious and down to fight. 

Tubbo watched with Niki and Wilbur as the two circled each other. “You sure about this?” Techno asked.

“You killed Niki, Techno,” Tommy said grimly. 

Wilbur counted down the start of the fight. “And go!” 

Techno went in for a hit… and his hand hit stone. Tommy was just to the side of him. Looking perplexed, he turned around and swung again, this time tripping on a rock that definitely wasn’t there before. 

The piglin hybrid straightened up, looking a little pissed off. “Tommy, what is this?”

“What, you can’t even hit me?” Tommy taunted. “I thought you were supposed to be a great fighter! What is this? It’s kinda pathetic.”

Now looking properly furious, Techno made for Tommy’s throat, and Tommy jumped upwards, abnormally high and fast, and perched himself on the iron lantern above the pit. Techno lunged upwards, and Tommy jumped back down, the force of said jump snapping the cord and sending the heavy lantern falling like an anvil onto Techno’s head. 

This went on, again and again, Techno trying to hit Tommy and instead injuring himself in increasingly ridiculous ways in the process, until finally Techno punched the stone wall with so much fury that it cracked the stone itself, splintering up the wall… and dislodging a huge block of stone, which crushed Techno and knocked him out cold.

Niki gasped. Tubbo and Wilbur cheered. A second later, Tommy was next to him again, grinning from ear to ear. 

“What kind of loop was that?” Tubbo asked.

Tommy continued to grin. “Meep Meep.”

**4.9**

It was time for the festival again, and Tubbo rose to the microphone with all the grace he’d gained from being a president and a prince. He gave everyone in the audience a sweet smile, knowing exactly how he looked. Like a sixteen year old who was way in over his head, but trying to make the most of it. He saw respect and concern from the non looping members of the audience. 

And then the image was broken when Tubbo cheerfully announced: “Hello all, and welcome to my execution!” 

Instantly scandalized murmurs broke out amongst the crowd. Tubbo could hear Quackity’s gasp and Schlatt shooting to his feet behind him. Still, he stayed cheery. “That’s right everyone! Our president had me decorate this festival, almost entirely by myself, so that he could then execute me for _apparently_ being a spy. Isn’t our great nation of Manberg grand?” 

Schlatt had reached him at this point, grabbing his arm and roughly shoving him backwards. Tubbo watched as the cage fell down around him. “Enough talk. So you figured it out, did you?” His smile was menacing as always. “Well then, let’s just skip the pleasantries, shall we? Technoblade, if you could join us.” 

The crowd was extremely uneasy as Techno made his way onto the podium. Schlatt gestured at Tubbo. “Well, you heard my former right hand man. I want you to execute the traitor.”

Technoblade hesitated, because he usually did for a moment, looking around him, and then started to raise his crossbow. 

“Oh no you don’t!” Techno whipped around, but Tommy pearled behind him and in front of Tubbo, two wooden sticks in his hands. “The fact that you even thought about it means I gotta take you down, for the good of everyone!” 

“Tommy-” Techno raised his crossbow again, but Tommy knocked it out of his hands with one of his sticks, promptly lit both of his sticks on fire, and began to duel with the warrior. 

Quackity, clearly sensing an opportunity, grabbed the mic and began to better describe the fight to the chaotic crowd. “Oh, it looks like the Blade has thorns on his armor, that’ll be tricky to counter… but no, it seems Tommy has healed right up without any potions! Ooh, a flaming rod of wood to the face, that has to hurt! And there goes the Blade’s axe, someone please grab that before it hurts anyone. Oh, and another flaming stick to the nose! This is an exciting fight, folks! Who will win? Place your bets now!” 

In all the commotion, no one noticed the young spy pearl away from the stage.

**4.10**

“Well, what do you know,” Tubbo mused. “This loop is an early one.” 

They’d had plenty of experience starting loops later than normal, but this time it seemed they were starting early, before L’Manberg was even formed. The disc wars hadn't even begun yet. It was just them and the other early members, all living together on the same plot of land. 

Tommy leaned back on the bench. “You know, this might be a good opportunity to see what would’ve happened if we never started the disc wars in the first place. Would Dream still get obsessed with them?” 

“That’s a good point.” Tubbo hummed thoughtfully. “What if we just didn’t do anything this loop? No disc wars, no L’Manberg. How would things go? Would it just be like it is now, everyone simply wandering around?” 

“Only one way to find out.” The two friends shared matching grins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4.1 It was, in fact, Punz.  
> 4.2 Skyrim wasn't nearly as prepared to handle a teenage dragonborn.  
> 4.3 Eret would rock any of Elsa's looks.  
> 4.4 Phoenix!Innit is go. Anything flammable, beware.  
> 4.5 Not exactly a fistfight, but a fight all the same. Also, family is a choice, not a blood relation.  
> 4.6 Sometimes, family loop variants are... awkward. Also, the duality of Dream.  
> 4.7 Honestly this was obligatory.  
> 4.8 Not even Technoblade can escape the pain of being forced into the role of Wile. E. Coyote. He spent the whole loop challenging Tommy and trying to figure out what kept happening, to no avail.  
> 4.9 Sometimes, honestly can be the best policy.  
> 4.10 Just two (centuries old)kids, getting to be kids.


	5. 5.0

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many responses and encouragement, so many ideas...you guys are amazing! I've marked all the requests down, and they'll be included throughout the chapters, along with any more you send in the future. Seriously, you're all awesome! 
> 
> For more relevant looping terms:
> 
>  **Ping:** A psychic signal every looper eventually learns, to let others know they're looping. One can tell whether another ping is close or not, but they can't figure out who is sending it by the ping alone. 
> 
> **Loop Aware:** When a non-looper becomes consistently aware that they're in a time loop, without needing to be told, and without actually remembering the loops.
> 
>  **Malicious Looping Entity(MLE):** Loopers that are actively hurting Yggdrasil's potential to be fixed, or just flat out causing horrific amounts of pain and misery for other loopers, whether they're aware of it or not. These include such faces as Billy(Grimm adventures of Billy and Mandy), the Tick, Dio Brando, and Kyubey.
> 
>  **The Hub:** The world where all the other branches of Yggdrasil are simply fictional stories. Not to be confused with a hub server, which sometimes appears in server-loops. 
> 
> All that said, please enjoy!

**5.1**

Tubbo sighed, sitting sideways on his new throne. They’d all Awoken in a variant loop post-revolution, where Tubbo was the traitor instead of Eret, and was now the King of the SMP. Wilbur and Fundy still refused to talk to him, and while Dream was acting friendly, Tubbo could see right through it - he was a villain through and through this loop. 

At the very least, he did have some changes in mind going forwards, starting with the aftermath of the election. Tommy would definitely accept his hospitality, after all. And he wondered how far he could push his lawmaking before Dream tried to take the throne away from him. 

There was a knock on the door, and Tubbo perked up, jumping off his throne. “Yeah? Come in!” Tommy and Eret wouldn’t knock, it was probably Wilbur or Fundy. Maybe to talk things through?

To his surprise, it was Niki of all people who entered, looking nervous. “Hey Tubbo,” she said, eyes drawn to the crown he was wearing. “If you don’t mind, could I ask you something?”

Tubbo blinked. “Sure, no problem. What’s up?” As far as he knew, Niki had only entered the realm earlier today. They shouldn’t know each other very well yet, as much as he wished otherwise. 

“Well…” Niki gestured at the throne. “It looks like you’re the king of the SMP. And that’s really cool, good for you! I just, I don’t suppose you’ve done this before? Being royalty, I mean. And of a place called Snowchester rather than SMP…” She trailed off, flushing slightly. “I’m sorry, you probably don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll just go.”

“No, wait!” Tubbo caught her arm, excitement rushing through him. “Niki, you remember that? It was - Eret was the king, right? And George was the king of the SMP. We were-”

“-Siblings,” Niki finished hoarsely, pulling Tubbo into a tight hug. “Oh Ender, it’s really you! I’m not going crazy!” 

“You’re not,” Tubbo assured her, hugging her back just as hard. “You’re all good, I can explain everything. Let’s go somewhere more comfortable, okay?”

Niki nodded mutely.

~

“So we’re stuck in some sort of time loop that’s going to go on forever, and sometimes we have variants to our world or go into other worlds?” Niki summerized, as they sat in the parlor room together. After being genuine royalty, Tubbo had taken to modeling his castle this loop as closely to that one as possible, and he was thankful for it now. “So the time before we were royals, that wasn’t just a bad dream?”

Tubbo winced. “No, that was real. That’s the original loop, actually. Sorry.” 

“It’s… fine.” Niki looked down at her hands. “I was, ah, a bit messed up at the end of that. I guess that’s why it was easier to think of it as just one bad dream.” She winced. “You said Tommy was - looping, you called it? - as well as Eret? Is he looping now?”

“He is,” Tubbo confirmed. “Both looping in general, and Awake at the moment. But he’s not mad at you or anything! You’re always fantastic for most of the time we spend looping, and you’re my sister fairly often, and he’s not upset at you. Promise. He’ll be really happy if you go back to L’Manberg and tell him you’re looping.”

“We… have to tell him, then?” She frowned. “I’m - I hope you’re right. That doesn’t make the idea of telling him less scary though.” 

“He’d find out eventually,” Tubbo pointed out softly. “And he’s with Eret right now, and you want to tell them, right?” Niki nodded. “It’ll be okay, I promise. And we’ll be there to help you guys through it.”

“Okay.” Niki bit her lip. “I’d still rather just spend time with you in the SMP then go back to L’Manberg though, if you don’t mind. Just this time.” 

Tubbo couldn’t deny his heart sank a little bit. He smiled anyways. “No problem. It’ll be nice to have the company.” 

The loops generally lasted around a year, after all. Plenty of time for Niki and Tommy to work things out. 

**5.2**

“So this is the Dreamon Hunter uniform?” Niki slipped the jacket over her shoulders. Tommy had insisted on making it for her, as part of what he seemed to think was his apology. As if he was the one who needed to apologize, not her. Which was ridiculous. 

Still, it did fit rather nicely. 

“Yup!” Tubbo tossed her a diamond axe, which she caught. “Sometimes there aren’t any Dreamons and it's just us messing around, all in good fun. Other times, like this one, Dream and others really are possessed, and it’s better to get the exorcisms done and done right before we go into the exile mess. We generally try and avoid that at all costs.”

“Right,” Niki agreed. Exorcising a demon did sound like fun. And preventing the later events of their loop sounded perfect. “Okay, what do I have to do?” 

Tubbo smiled and took out his book. “Well, let’s start with the exorcism spell itself…” 

**5.3**

The sun was shining, waves were gently lapping the sandy beaches, and it was a wonderful day to be a part of Animal Crossing. 

“You look a bit haggard,” Tubbo, nephew of Isabelle, noted as he sorted some papers. Sure enough, Tommy definitely seemed distracted. 

“No no, it’s all good,” Tommy reassured him. “Sam Nook’s just a freaking slave driver, is all. Also, I can’t swear, and it’s driving me bonkers.”

Tubbo snickered, and Tommy stuck his tongue out at him. “Honestly we should’ve seen this coming eventually, with Sam Nook and all. It was only a matter of time before we got into Animal Crossing.” 

“You’re not bothered because you don’t have to do anything this loop,” Tommy grumbled good naturedly. Despite his disheveled appearance, Tubbo could tell he was much more relaxed than normal. “I gotta say though, I like these kinds of politics much better than our base loop’s version. Much less craters, more cute animals.”

“Here here.” 

**5.4**

“So, this is a Server loop.”

“Yup.” 

“And you’re the admin this time.”

Niki nodded. “It seems so.”

“So…” Eret drawled, “What are you planning on doing with all this power?”

Niki smiled. “I’ve got some ideas.”

~

Spawn was already crowded by the time Tommy and Tubbo got there. It was much nicer, a genuine building rather than ruins and traps, with a pretty banner that read BAKE SMP on it.

“Bake SMP?” Tommy read aloud.

“Haven’t you heard?” Fundy said, as he walked past them. “This is the server where all the most famous bakers come to compete and show off their recipes. Everyone wants to join and get a taste!”

Tommy and Tubbo took this in, before exchanging smiles.

“Think Niki will let us be taste testers?”

“She fucking better!”

**5.5**

“This is gonna be so fucking cool.” Tommy grinned as he threw his chicken egg into the color wheel. 

It wasn’t often where they had a loop like this. Sure, they had plenty of Server loops, and plenty of those loops included a hub server, of sorts. But an actual competition being hosted in said hub server was rare. And when it happened, they were never all on the same team together.

It seemed now that there were four of them, things were finally changing. 

“I’m a little nervous,” Niki admitted, watching as Rocket Spleef was chosen as the first game. “I mean, I’ve got a few loops under my belt, yeah, but not as many as you guys. I hope I won’t hold you back.”

“You’ll do great,” Eret assured her. “You’ve done what, thirty loops now? Forty?” She nodded. “That’s decades more practice than anyone else here has. You’ll be fantastic.” 

“We’re gonna crush everyone else together!” Tubbo cheered. 

“Alright then!” Scott SMajor announced. Let the first game of the MCC begin!”

**5.6**

Dream smirked as Wilbur counted down from ten, and he prepared for the bow duel. Everyone knew Tommy wasn’t close to being the best with a bow and arrow. He wasn’t even the best in L’Manberg. This would be an easy win, and then this ridiculous war would be over.

“10 paces, fire!” Wilbur announced. Dream turned, already drawing his bow…

And was immediately hit in the face with an arrow, ending his first life. The fighters of L’Manberg celebrated their victory.

* * *

“10 paces, fire!” Wilbur announced. Dream turned, already drawing his bow…

And was immediately shot in the face with a bullet, ending his first life in a rather messy fashion. 

Everyone stared at Tommy, who raised his bow. “Nothing in the rules said I couldn’t use a bow that fires a gun that shoots bullets!” 

“I dunno Toms,” Wilbur admitted. “I think that’s pushing it.” 

“Seems like cheating to me,” George said. “I think we win by default.”

Tommy huffed, then turned to glare at Tubbo, who had the decency to look ashamed. “I thought it was pretty cool when I made it!”

* * *

“10 paces, fire!” Wilbur announced. Dream turned, already drawing his bow…

Only to be hit in the side by something sharp. He had only a moment to wonder what happened before he started jumping and jiggling uncontrollably.

“Dancing arrow,” Tommy explained smugly. He drew his bow again, a normal arrow in it this time. “Here, I’ll put him out of his misery.”

“Wait just a moment more.” Eret snapped a few pictures. “I’m saving these for loops where I wake up after the revolution and have to deal with being alone.” 

**5.7**

As soon as they left the camarvan, Tubbo nudged Tommy. “Hey, happy one thousandth loop!”

Tommy smiled. Then the words really hit him, and he froze in his tracks. “One thousand loops? You’ve been keeping track?”

“More or less,” Tubbo confirmed. “Just in the back of my mind, you know? Maybe it’s a little bit off, but it’s definitely around a thousand.” He paused. “Oh. Oh wow. We’re about a thousand and seventeen years old.”

The two of them took a moment to process this information. 

“I know these loops go on for eternity, or whatever,” Tommy finally said. “But I guess it didn’t really hit me until now. We’re going to be doing this for _eternity_. Holy shit.”

Tubbo nodded slowly. “I remember it really hitting me when we were at about loop twenty, and I realized I’d been looping longer than I was even alive. And that’s nothing compared to now. Those Kingdom Hearts loopers were reaching billions of years old. I think they said the oldest loopers were nearing the trillions, or something.”

“Yeah.” The two of them leaned up against the camarvan, looking out on the SMP. 

“What if we did something special for this loop, since it’s possibly our thousandth?” Tommy suggested finally. “I dunno what, considering we do wacky things all the time, but something.”

“We could throw a giant party,” Tubbo offered. “Invite everyone. Make it a huge deal, even if we don’t tell them why.”

“I like it,” Tommy decided. “Let’s do that.”

And so it was. 

**5.8 (credit to Splootdoot)**

“So, you’re the anchor for the Pokémon loops?” Tommy asked, as they trekked through the woods. Waking up to a world like this, where everything was fought with Pokémon battles, was unusual, but certainly not unwelcome. 

“Yup,” Pikachu confirmed. “You’re replacing my usual partner, Ash. Have you ever been to this loop before?”

“This is my first time,” Tommy admitted. “But it seems like a shit-ton of fun, becoming a Pokémon master and all of that.”

Pikachu snickered. “You’re gonna have to wait a while on that one. Oh, here we go- wait, no, those two are different. They must be from your loop.” Tommy looked up.

Descending on them was a giant hot air balloon, with two very familiar people and a Pokémon inside.

“Prepare for trouble!” Niki called out, looking like she was trying hard not to laugh. Probably awake, then. 

“And make it double!” Jack Manifold continued. 

“To protect the world from devastation!”

“To unite all peoples within our nation!”

To denounce the evils of truth and love!”

“To extend our reach to the stars above!”

“Niki!”

“Jack!”

“Team rocket blasts off at the speed of light! Surrender now, or prepare to fight!”

“That’s right.” A very tired cat Pokémon with suspiciously blank eyes finished off. 

**5.9**

Niki Awoke at a small tavern in a small town outside the great city of L’Manberg. She swirled her already ordered whiskey in her hands, waiting for the loop memories to come in. 

After a few seconds, they arrived, and Niki blinked at the rush of power and tragic backstory they revealed to her. “Well this sure is something.” Hadn’t she heard of something like this before?

A moment later, Tubbo sat down next to her, and it was immediately clear that he was much smaller than normal. “Looks like we’re having a Dungeons and Dragons sort of loop.”

“Oh, that makes sense. I was wondering where I’d heard of this before.” Niki smiled. “It looks like I’m a Circle of the Moon Druid in this loop. And you’re, um,”

“Small, I know.” Tubbo sighed. “I’m a gnome this time around. And a Twilight Domain Cleric of Ianite. Makes sense, since she’s my grandma in quite a few loops. Including this one, I think.” 

Niki blinked. “Really?” 

“Yup. She’s the Captain’s dad a lot, and he’s my dad a lot, so it overlaps.” Tubbo held his hands up in a “what can you do” sort of fashion. “Still, the automatic dark vision should be useful if it sticks. Plus, I think I’m gonna try and multiclass into Artificer, if I can.”

“Sounds pretty damn useful to me.” Tommy said, dragging over a chair to sit at their table. “I’m a Champion Fighter, which means no magic for me this time around, unfortunately. But hey, I’m also an Aasimar, so I can occasionally summon some cool wings!” 

“There you guys are.” They turned to see Eret pulling up a chair. Out of all of them, they looked the most different, as a Drow. “I’m a Arcane Trickster Rogue, by the way. So leave most of the sneaking to me.” 

Tubbo cleared his throat. “Now that we’re all here, does anyone know what our first quest is?” 

Tommy pulled out a poster from his bag. “Looks like we’ve got a goblin problem south of town that they’re paying some good coin to get cleared out.”

Niki smiled. “Sounds like a plan!” Then she leaned in closer. “This will somehow lead to us getting caught up in the political drama between nations, won’t it?”

Eret smirked. “You catch on quick.” 

**5.10**

Wilbur watched as the SMP became a battlefield the likes of which he had never seen, even in the most intense parts of the revolution. And it wasn’t just the fighting itself, but the fighters. Somehow, a living shadow seemed to be aiding Sapnap, and Fundy was working with a genuine T-Rex!

“How did this happen?” He finally managed to get out. 

The T-Rex must’ve heard, because it turned its head towards him, and with a small pop, it was gone, and in its place was Niki. “Sapnap killed Fungi. _Again_ ,” she snarled, in a very animal-like manner, before turning back into a dinosaur. 

Wilbur made eye-contact with Dream, who looked just as confused and unnerved as he felt. 

“How about we both go and get a drink?” The masked man offered.

Wilbur looked back out on the fight, where Tommy was currently running through the battlefield, entirely on fire. “That sounds wonderful, thank you. Your treat, of course.”

“Asshole.”

**5.11 (credit to cherryoh and FlamingHeroKai)**

Tubbo had heard about hub loops, of course, from different loopers that he’d met. That every branch of Yggdrasil had their story as a part of the hub loop. Naturally, this included their own.

That didn’t really prepare him for actually watching the Dream SMP, though. 

“We’re so _blocky_ ,” Tommy groaned, for the nth time, as they watched the Manberg vs Pogtopia war, this time from Wilbur’s point of view. “It’s just - it’s so weird! Why do we look so weird?”

“We’ve been blocky like that once or twice,” Tubbo pointed out, although he totally understood where Tommy was coming from. Watching the battle play out from this point of view was… weird. To say the very least. 

“Yeah, but even then it was different. We don’t even emote in this! And Dream! Do you know how different baseline would’ve been if Dream had nipple-eyes!?” Tubbo couldn’t help but burst into laughter. 

“At least the actor for Dream seems genuinely nice,” he offered. “And those manhunts are pretty wild.”

“Wouldn’t know, I don’t feel like watching his shit,” Tommy muttered, pausing the video. “Plus we’ve got a whole lot of other stuff to see, besides what we look like here. You know, just in case we loop into any of these different worlds.”

“That’s true,” Tubbo agreed. “To Netflix?”

“To Netflix!”

“To _school_ ,” Eret corrected gently, stepping into the room. “Remember? Niki has college, I have work, and you two have high school to get to.” 

Both boys let out immediate groans. “Do I have to? Technically I’m already a nuclear physicist,” Tubbo argued. 

“When you can speak fluent German, we’ll let you stay home!” Niki called out from another room.”

“Dammit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5.1 Remember that mention of Chrysalis Syndrome? Yup. Welcome to the loops, Niki!  
> 5.2 Dreamon hunting is a fantastic stress reliever.  
> 5.3 Tommy was painfully caught between the peacefulness of animal crossing and the absolute fury of being unable to swear.  
> 5.4 Bake SMP. Everyone's favorite server. Dream SMP? Never heard of it.  
> 5.5 They crushed the competition so soundly, the four of them were never allowed on the same team again.  
> 5.6 When Awake Tommy does the bow duel, he wins the bow duel. Even through... unconventional methods.  
> 5.7 Infinite Loops go on for _infinity_. This is a mind bogglingly long time. And it's only getting wilder.  
> 5.8 They never did get Tommy. Or Pikachu, for that matter.  
> 5.9 It always starts small and ends with international drama, doesn't it?  
> 5.10 It only escalated from there. Strong drinks were had by everyone else.  
> 5.11 Tubbo always had to explain that his parents didn't hate him when they named him. Other than that, it was a rather nice loop.


	6. 6.0

**6.1**

“Wait, you guys are _looping?_ ” Tommy gaped at the man sitting across from him and Tubbo. They were in the Hub Server, at a small but nice cafe, waiting for their drinks to arrive.

The man rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I can see why you’re surprised. Our series isn’t nearly as roleplay heavy as yours is in the hub, correct? But it looks like it was at least enough to get us looping.” He stuck out his hand with a friendly smile. “Joe Hills. Hermitcraft anchor.”

Tubbo, having finally recovered from his shock, shook his hand. “I’m Tubbo, and this is Tommy. We’re the anchors of the Dream SMP.” Tommy, still trying to get his jaw off the floor, nodded.

“It’s wonderful to finally meet you,” Joe said pleasantly. “Especially as we’re on the same branch of Yggdrasil.”

Tubbo blinked. “We are? I thought every world had its own branch.”

“Most of them do,” Joe agreed. “But for those of us from Minecraft worlds, it’s a little different. Imagine a very large branch on a massive tree. This very large branch has smaller branches sticking out from it, going in different directions. In the same sense, Hermitcraft, Dream SMP, Mianite, Shadow of Israphel, we are all smaller parts of the same Minecraft branch. Technically, us meeting isn’t even a fused loop, because our worlds are so connected.”

“That does shed some light on how the Captain and I have so many loops together,” Tubbo admitted. 

“Does that also include the classic Steve and Alex and such?” Tommy wondered, having finally recovered.

Joe nodded. “Steve is the anchor for the main Minecraft branch, the large one we’re all connected to. As far as I know, all Minecraft loopers will meet him eventually.” 

“Holy shit.” Joe laughed at Tommy’s empathic swear. 

“Holy shit indeed.” He stifled his chuckles. “So, is it just you two so far, or have you gotten more loopers yet?” 

“We’ve got two others, Eret and Niki,” Tubbo informed him. “And you? Is anyone else looping with you?”

The waiter handed them all their drinks, and Joe sipped his coffee before replying. “Quite a few. Besides me, there’s Cleo, Grian, Xisuma, Scar, Mumbo, False, and Iskall. We’ve got about five hundred loops total under our belts, which I’ve learned isn’t very much in the grand scheme of things, so hopefully we’ll get more soon.”

“Lucky,” Tommy groaned. “We’ve had over a thousand loops, and there’s only four of us!”

“It’s different for every world,” Joe pointed out gently. “I’m sure you’ll get more soon. In the meantime, Xisuma is Awake, which means he could let you two in, if you wanted to tour our current world for a bit?” 

Tubbo instantly perked up. “Absolutely!” 

**6.2**

“Chekhov's Gun,” Wilbur chuckled to himself, as he made his way towards the button room. “Chekhov’s Gun.” 

The dramatic and poignant speech was already forming in his mind, what he would say before he pushed the button and finished his unfinished symphony for good. It was a rather nice one, Wilbur thought.

Which made it even more of a surprise when he entered the button room to find that not only was it all cleaned up, the writings he had scribbled on the walls gone, but the button itself was gone as well. 

In its place was a note. _“Wilbur, if you’re reading this, you’ve gone to try and blow up L’Manberg even though we already won. Tubbo and Niki and I have removed the tnt, so you won’t be able to, and we took away the button just in case. Attached is a way to contact a very good therapist named Puffy. Please get some help._

_Love Tommy”_

“What a thoughtful little brother,” Phil murmured from behind him, causing Wilbur to jump.

“Phil?” He couldn’t really be here, could he?

Phil gave him a soft smile. “Hello Wilbur. I think Tommy is right. Let’s get you some therapy, okay?” 

Wilbur still had no idea how things had changed so fast, but there was nothing he could do, no tnt to destroy everything with. 

He let Phil lead him away. 

**6.3**

“So.” Tommy looked over the edge of the crater caused by Doomsday. “Real late start to the loop here.”

“Yup,” Tubbo agreed glumly. All four of them had Awoken only after Doomsday was over. Which meant they couldn’t prevent any of the things they always tried to prevent. 

Eret kicked a pebble into the L’Manhole. “What if we fix it up? Recreate L’Manberg? I mean, we’re all pretty decent terraformers at this point, and we’ve got a Druid with us. Shouldn’t be too hard.” 

“You’ve got a point,” Niki agreed, absentmindedly running a hand over the ground. “As much as I wish I could prevent myself from burning down the L’Mantree… but there’s no point in wishing for that. Let’s terraform first, and then I can get the flora up and running again. You all can cover the building part?”

Tommy gave her a mock salute. “Count on us. L’Manberg will be back to its former glory in no time.” 

“I’ve got several versions of the camarvan in my subspace pocket,” Eret added helpfully. 

“And I’ve got at least forty different copies of all the original books and documents to recreate the library.” Tubbo cracked his knuckles “Plus, you know, nukes. In case they try and blow it up again.” 

With that heartwarming thought, the four loopers set their plan into motion.

**6.4 (credit to TheFlamingKai)**

“You think you’re a hero, Tommy? Well then die like one!”

And Techno threw rocks everywhere. “And Bam! I summon the withers and they destroy all of you!”

“What? No fair!” Quackity protested. “Plus, we’ve got that netherite armor on, remember? So you can’t keep hurting us like this!”

“Yeah, saying you just flat out killed me with a firework was kinda rude, Techno,” Tubbo added, holding his “sword” (a wooden stick) up. “I had armor on this time!”

“Yeah well…” Techno searched around for an explanation. “I purposefully made the armor useless! And withers can kill you anyways, armor or not.”

“Stop being boring,” Purpled whined, leaning on his “sword”. “You can’t keep pulling these things out of nowhere so we always lose to you!”

“Take an L for once and let us win!” Tommy yelled. This was met with numerous cheers from the other kids on the playground. 

“Fine! You know what? Whatever. I’m going into retirement. And getting a snack.” Techno threw his stick down dramatically. “But I’ll be back to destroy you all!” 

There was a loud rumbling sound that made everyone pause. “An earthquake?” At least, Tubbo hoped it was just an earthquake. This loop where he, Tommy, and Niki were awake, and everything was just a game that they and the neighboring kids came up with, was a lot of silly fun, and he didn’t want it to be something else.

Wilbur perked up from where he was hiding in the “Button Room” (under the monkey bars). “Hey! That could be me blowing up L’Manberg! Everything explodes with a big boom!”

“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Niki paused, then got into character. “I mean, no, Wilbur! How could you do such a thing!?” 

Wilbur spread his arms out dramatically. “L’Manberg is my musical! And no one’s gonna play it again!”

“Down with the government!” Techno shouted helpfully. Purpled bonked him with his sword. “Hey!”

Philza walked over from where he was sitting on a park bench. “Kids? I think that was an earthquake, is everyone alright?” 

“Dad!” Wilbur ran over to him, handing him his stick. “Dad, I blew up L’Manberg. You gotta take me out!” 

Phil blinked. “What?”

“Wilbur went bonkers in our game and blew up our nation,” Tommy explained. “You gotta stop him! Also, we’re all okay, it just rumbled a little.”

“Is that so?” Phil chuckled, then tapped Wilbur on the head extremely lightly with the “sword”. “I guess I gotta do this for the greater good then.”

Wilbur beamed. “Oh no, I’m dead now! Bleh.” And he fell to the ground. Very dramatically. 

**6.5**

“I think I’m gonna run for president this time,” Niki said, putting down her paper.

“Didn’t you run in baseline?” Eret asked.

“Yes, but I was just Fundy’s running mate. I’m going to run myself, as my own candidate. Would you be my running mate? You have more political experience than I do.”

“Of course,” Eret agreed immediately. They hadn’t betrayed L’Manberg this time, after all, which meant that they wouldn’t hurt their sister’s chances. “I’ll help you with whatever you need.” 

~

Tubbo watched as Niki was officially sworn in as president. “You know, I think this is the best possible outcome.”

“You think?” Tommy repeated.

“Yup. No paranoia, no dictatorship, no explosions. And I won’t have to be president later! It’s the perfect outcome.”

* * *

“This is a horrible outcome,” Tommy muttered, as they watched Dream get sworn in as president, with Karl as his vice.

“Why, because Dream is now president of L’Manberg?”

“No, because it’s a little cloudy today- _yes because Dream is president of L’Manberg!_ ”

* * *

“How did this even happen?” Eret marveled, as they watched Technoblade be sworn in as president, with Philza as his vice.

Tommy threw his hands up in the air. “I’m out. If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the server hub. I’m not sticking around here this loop.”

**6.6 (credit to kuragir_i)**

The war to crush the L’Manberg rebellion had been going on for some time now, and Dream was starting to get frustrated. 

Not just by the fact that everything was being drawn out, that he couldn’t just win and get this over with, but by the fact that he could swear L’Manberg was drawing it out intentionally. Which made no sense, considering how much weaker they should be, but that was nonetheless how it felt. 

Still, as he and his friends planned for their next assault, he was feeling cautiously optimistic. 

Then the stomping noise, as loud as thunder, started up. Out of some sense or morbid curiosity, Dream couldn't help but go and look. 

It was coming from L’Manberg, and they were… singing something? 

_“~Do you hear the people sing? Singing the songs of angry men. It is the music of the people who will not be slaves again~”_

“This is ridiculous,” Dream muttered, perched up in a tree and watching things unfold. 

“I dunno, it’s kinda catchy,” Sapnap snickered from right next to him. Dream shot his friend a glare. 

_“~the blood of the martyrs will water the meadows of FRANCE!~”_

At they very least, could they sing something that made sense!? 

**6.7**

“We should’ve seen this coming,” Eret, Secretary of State, admitted as he entered the Oval Office. “I just thought you’d be aged up to adulthood for it rather than still being sixteen.”

Tubbo shrugged, his feet up on the desk. “Apparently in this world they don’t have age restrictions for how old a person has to be to run for office. Still a little weird, but I guess it’s better than being at least thirty-five for this loop.” 

It seemed that in this world, he had been born in America before his parents decided to move to England, and he had recently returned before the elections.

How he had managed to win said Elections, Tubbo was still trying to figure out. 

A man in a dark suit and sunglasses hurried into the room. “Mister President, Prime Minister Soot is requesting a meeting with you.”

Tubbo took his feet off the desk and stood up. “Alright, let’s see what time I have available.”

Being President of the United States sure was an experience.

**6.8**

Tubbo put the newly finished documents down and rubbed his eyes. “This is gonna be a long loop.”

Normally in solo-realm loops, the number of L’Manberg citizens could go from a bit under a hundred to tens of thousands. This time, however, New L’Manberg had over a hundred thousand citizens and was rapidly growing. At least the country itself was originally much bigger than normal in order to hold everyone.

Not to mention this was an extended loop. Rather than a year or less, everything was happening so much slower, the disk wars having taken place five years ago, when Tubbo and Tommy were eleven. Who knew how long Tubbo would be in office for? 

“It’s because you’re such a good president,” Tommy said dryly as he entered the room, closing the door gently behind him. “Your economic and social policies are beyond what all the different kingdoms are offering in terms of equality and opportunity, so of course people want to come.”

“I guess. Comes with years of studying just about everything needed to work in a high ranking public office.” It was true, whenever Tubbo was in a loop where he could go through genuine high school or college, that was what he focused on. As much as he would like to spend more time working on inventions and mechanics, he did have a country to run more often than not. 

Judging by Tommy’s sympathetic look, he seemed to have guessed what Tubbo was thinking about. “Hey, you’ve done super well at it! The presses are calling you the best leader on the continent, with the most satisfied population! More people have emigrated here from the SMP than from anywhere else, and Dream is furious.” 

“I know. And it’s really nice.” Tubbo gave his best friend a tired smile. “It’s just, as VP, you don’t have to deal with the shitty wannabe bureaucrats that keep trying to grab offices and make everything more complicated. Or the constant demands of being ready for the press at all times, or the on and off negotiations with countries that don’t even normally exist.” He sighed. “And it’s not like I can run away from this. I’ve got _so many_ people relying on me.” 

Tommy sat down and wrapped an arm around him. “I know. I’m not president a lot, and this is part of why I don’t want to be. It’s a shitty and thankless job, and I’m sorry you’re always stuck with it. But I’m here for you if you need to take a load off, and when the next elections come, you don’t have to run.”

“Right.” He took a deep breath. Thanks Tommy. I mean it.”

“Yeah, of course. Any time.”

**6.9**

Tommy Awoke in a strange house, one he had never been in before. _A fused loop?_

The memories hit, and Tommy knew his guess was correct. And it looked to be an exciting one, too! 

“New looper?” Tommy turned to see a spiky haired boy smiling at him. “You looked a little lost.”

“New to this world, at least,” Tommy agreed. “Tommy Voltia. Usually Tommy Innit, or Tommy Craft, or just Tommy. You must be Asta, then?” 

“That’s me,” the boy agreed. “Welcome to Black Clover, hope you enjoy your stay. Noelle and I are both looping this time, so if you need any help, just ask us, alright?”

“Yeah, thanks.” Tommy had matured well past the point of seeing help as pity, at the very least. He went back to looking over his new loop memories and scowled.

Lightning magic, of course. _You get struck by lightning one time-!_

~

Asta blinked, looking genuinely surprised. “Okay, I’ve seen people beat Lotus and Mars in a lot of ways, but I’ve never seen anyone do it using Roadrunner physics. That’s a new one.”

Tommy grinned, looking at the thoroughly beaten men on the ground. “I’ve also been Jerry from Tom and Jerry. Weaponizing Cartoon logic is an art form, and it’s one I’m well practiced in.” 

~

“A blind date?” Tommy repeated. “No thanks. Sorry, I just don’t do romance in general. Nothing more than jokes about it for me.”

“Understandable,” Asta assured him. “Luck usually gets rejected at the end anyways, so it’s no big loss.” 

~

Tommy felt the elf leave him, and sat down with a sigh. Seeing as they were always in a universe with a mind controlling entity, he’d built up quite a bit of strength against any sort of possession. That didn’t mean it didn’t suck.

Still, as he’s hugged by the Black Bulls, Tommy couldn’t help but smile a little. These might not have been his friends, but Luck Voltia was a pretty lucky guy, all things considered. 

**6.10**

Tommy threw the paper down. “Okay, I’m stumped. I got nothing.”

“Surely there’s at least some consistent explanation,” Tubbo said, trying to calm his best friend.

“It doesn’t fucking look that way,” Tommy muttered. “It’s just, what the hell is DreamXD? A Dreamon? A god? A guardian? I know he looks like Dream because Dream’s the admin in the hub story of us, but what does that even make the “guy” for the people living here? He’s not Dream, most of the time, so who is he? It’s never fucking consistent!”

Tubbo sighed, equally as stumped. “They say sometimes loops get expansions, right? Maybe one day we’ll actually find out.”

Tommy snorted. “Yeah, and one day we’ll finally find out what’s up with Ranboo as well.”

There wasn’t much Tubbo could say to that.

**6.11 (credit to octoFox)**

Quackity looked around. “Is it just me, or are a lot of people missing here?”

Wilbur grimaced. “It’s not just you. Tommy, George, Tubbo, Niki, Eret, none of them are here.” 

His opponent threw his hands up in the air. “Well how the hell are we supposed to run this thing if both of our VPs are missing?”

Wilbur let out a long, drawn out sighed. “Honestly? I think at this point we need to just continue without them.”

~

“You know, we always give George shit for this, but it’s actually really nice.” Tommy snuggled further into the mess of blankets and pillows that decorated Tubbo’s not-burned down jungle home.

“George doesn’t have an awesome pillow fort, so we’re still better than him anyways,” came the sleepy response of his best friend. Next to Tubbo, Niki was curled up in a comfy ball, and Eret laid sprawled out on the other side of Tommy. 

“We’re really just gonna sleep through this whole loop then?” They said drowsily.

“Mmm.”

They’d been through war after war after war, for only Tubbo knew how long. Tommy decided that they deserved a break like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 6.1 I've been waiting to write this one for a while. Meet Joe Hills, anchor of the Hermitcraft loops! The four roleplays mentioned are the four currently looping, by the way.  
> 6.2 Whenever therapists are available, they try and send Wilbur to one.  
> 6.3 Spite is an excellent motivator.  
> 6.4 Techno is _that_ kid. You know the one.  
> 6.5 There's been so very weird variant elections.  
> 6.6 As soon as they realized Sapnap liked the songs, they convinced him to sing Javert's role in "One Day More".  
> 6.7 They never quite figure out how he won that election.  
> 6.8 The chains of commanding. Tubbo feels them.  
> 6.9 Yggdrasil never forgets when someone goofs. Tommy has _lots_ of lightning related loops.  
> 6.10 They're going to be waiting a very long time to get answers.  
> 6.11 They all deserve a break, really.


	7. 7.0

**7.1**

Tubbo activated his lightsabers, looking at the two yellow blades in awe. “This is gonna be a fantastic loop.”

“Oh absolutely.” Anakin gave his Padawan a high five. “And you’re an engineer too? Wonderful. I know more than a few things about that, I’d be happy to give you pointers.”

Tubbo felt even more excited, if such a thing was possible. “That would be amazing! I’ve always wanted my own spaceship. Building one would be even better! Did you know I made nukes in baseline?”

Anakin leaned in, interested. “Really? By yourself?”

“Yup! It took a couple weeks, but they worked!”

Obi Wan rubbed his temples. “This is going to be a long loop, isn’t it?”

“Dunno what you mean.” His own apprentice, Tommy, gave his blue blade a few practice swings. “I’m pretty stoked.”

Ahsoka smiled. “At the very least, it’s nice to look your age, Skyguy, Obi Wan. And with a Padawan of my own!” Next to her, Niki smiled, green double-bladed lightsaber at her hip.

“Sorry, but we should save the small talk for later.” The newly knighted Eret walked in, sheathing their purple blade. “We’ve got droids incoming.” 

With shared smiles that ranged from excited to exasperated, the seven prepared for battle.

**7.2**

“The truth is, I’m a time traveler,” Niki admitted quietly.

Across from her, her partner set down her cupcake. “Really?”

Niki nodded. “It’s a bit hard to explain, but basically, me and a couple others are stuck in a time loop, repeating the same events over and over again.” She sighed. “I just, I wanted you to know this time.”

Puffy smiled at her, looking a bit confused, but mostly accepting. “Well, thank you for confiding in me. I’m sure that must get really lonely.”

Niki looked down at her own sweet. “Sometimes, yes,” she whispered.

It was so hard, not having Puffy looping with her. Whatever her unawake self decided, Niki the looper had yet to fall for anyone besides Puffy. Again and again, she found herself drawn to her partner. It’s not quite romantic - but it’s more than friendship, always. Sometimes they call themselves girlfriends, sometimes partners, but it’s not the title that’s important, it’s what they share. And again and again, she would lose her. Sometimes, Niki wished she could just will her feelings away. But they always seemed to come back. 

She felt a gentle hand on top of her own, and looked up. “I don’t know what that’s like. I can’t even imagine,” Puffy admitted. “And I guess I’ll just forget as soon as this time loop is over. But right now, I do love you, alright? Knowing you’re a time traveler doesn’t change that.”

“I - thank you. I feel the same way. I always do.” Niki wiped her eyes.

Normally she didn’t let herself get into a relationship with Puffy. One day, many loops in the future, maybe she would. When Puffy herself started looping. This was one of the rare times where she let herself be with her.

Niki could wait for Puffy. As long as it took.

**7.3**

Eret awoke while looking at themselves in a puddle. _Hmm. That’s a new way to start this off. Weird._

Then the loop memories hit. _I take it back. Much more than weird._

They stole the first flying carpet they could and headed off to their current ice castle. (And a shoddy one too, from what they remembered. They should do some redecorating.)

Finn and Marceline were already waiting when they got there. “Sorry about this,” Finn said by way of greeting. “This is usually when loopers Awake when they’re filling in for Ice King, so we came in advance.”

It’s no problem,” Eret assured them. “My loop memories are telling me that I left my little sister Niki all alone when I first put on the crown, so is there any way I can contact her?”

“There is.” Marceline grimaced. “The energy to do that though - you’ll need to put the crown back on to survive, and that means you’ll be out of it for pretty much the rest of the loop. And uh, we should mention beforehand, but the reason she never came back when you put on the crown is because doing what Simon always does brings her here.”

“Oh.” They weren’t really fond of that idea. “Maybe she’s better off back there then.” They checked their loop memories. “Wait, no, definitely not.” Eret sighed. “I’ll do it. I’m not going to get much out of this loop, am I?”

“Sorry.” Finn gave them an apologetic smile. “How about we take you on a big tour of Ood before we get started on the time travel mess?”

“That would be wonderful, thank you.”

**7.4 (credit to funtimesinfiction)**

Things went south the second Tommy Awoke, as next to him, Eret crumpled from where they were standing. Immediately, Tommy went to hold up one of their sides, and Tubbo the other. Eret simply groaned a little, blank eyes clearly unfocused behind their sunglasses. 

Wilbur and Fundy looked over in alarm. “Eret! Are you alright?” 

“Doesn’t look like they are,” Tommy said. “Hang on, we got you.” 

“We’ll get them somewhere safe,” Tubbo promised. “Could we hold off on the signing for a bit? Just want to make sure they’re okay.”

Wilbur immediately nodded. “Do you want us to come with you?”

Tommy shook his head. “We got this, big man. We need someone to stay and guard the camarvan, right?”

Neither man looked convinced, but they nodded. “Just be careful.”

As soon as they were out of view, Tommy apparated them to his house, where they set Eret down on the bed. Tommy turned to Tubbo. “What the hell happened? Do you know?”

Tubbo nodded grimly. “You weren’t awake for that one. It was-” he paused, tilting his head. “You feel that? Niki’s coming.” Tommy nodded. “I’ll explain when she gets here.”

A few minutes later, a small Interceptor ship landed behind Tommy’s house, and then Niki was running through the door. “Where are they?” Her eyes landed on Eret, and she rushed over to them. Eret, finally starting to show signs of being conscious, leaned up against her automatically. 

They all watched them worriedly for a moment, before Tubbo sighed and turned to Tommy. “Remember last time we were in the Hub, and I played Hollow Knight? And you were screaming at me the whole time?”

“I totally wasn’t screaming, you just didn’t see the enemies coming at you!” Tommy defended. “But yeah.” 

“And you know how the three main characters in Hollow Knight are siblings?”

“Yeah- _oh_. I see where this is going.”

Tubbo ran a hand through his hair, his expression tired. “Yeah. I was the Little Ghost. Niki was Hornet. Eret was the Hollow Knight. And they awakened just as they were made into a vessel for the radiance. Which lasted for centuries.” 

“ _Shit_.” Any plans for the loop could be put on hold. This was going to take a while to heal from. 

**7.5**

“Hey Tommy?”

“Yeah? Tommy looked up with surprise. It wasn’t often that he talked with Karl, considering they certainly weren’t the closest during baseline. “What’s up?”

Karl hesitated. “This may sound weird, but I don’t suppose history is repeating itself for you?”

Tommy gaped, then grinned. “Yup, it is. Guess you’ve started looping as well then?” Tubbo got to introduce Niki to everything last time, so he was looking forward to doing it this time.

But Karl shook his head. “I’m not, sorry. But I am a time traveler in general, and I noticed something was up with you and Tubbo immediately. Took a bit to figure out what it was. Sorry for the disappointment.”

“Oh. Tommy could admit he was a bit disappointed. He’d hoped they’d finally gotten another looper. But that wasn’t Karl’s fault. “It’s no big deal, man. Yeah, just Tubbo and I are looping this time, so I guess that’s why you noticed something was up with us.”

“Do you mind telling me about it?” Karl asked. “The loops, I mean. I’ve never met a fellow time traveler before, even if it’s a different version of time travel.”

Tommy grinned. “No problem. I’ll get Tubbo, and we can all talk about it. Maybe you could share some stories as well.” 

Karl might not have been looping, but it was nice to have someone else in the know.

**7.6**

“What happens in the pit stays in the pit, alright Tommy?” Techno said.

Tommy grinned. “Alright. I can work with that.”

He was curious, anyways. With no weapons or armor, how long would it take him to beat Techno? He and Tubbo could pretty reliably defeat the man when everyone had weapons on them, but hand to hand was a different matter.

No loop tricks either. He wanted to see how much he’d improved when it came to martial arts and street fighting. 

Wilbur started them off. “Ready, begin!”

Tommy moved first, going for a well placed strike between the ribs, making sure he only went as fast as a normal person could go. Techno blocked it, but he let out a huff, and Tommy could see the surprise in his eyes. The hybrid shifted stances, clearly taking this more seriously now. 

He went in for a clean swing, and Tommy ducked under his fist, before kicking upwards at Techno’s outstretched arm. He took a tiny moment to revel in the satisfaction of the connected hit, and Techno’s grunt of pain, before moving again. 

And so the two traded blows, ducking and dodging and dancing around each other. Techno was a brilliant fighter, the best of the non-loopers. But Tommy had an unthinkable amount of experience behind him, as well as styles from other loops that Techno wouldn’t know how to counter. He was excellent at improvising, but considering all the times Tommy had fought him, he knew the hybrid’s movements too well. He was bruised by now, but Techno was even moreso. 

The spar ended with Tommy jumping off the wall and giving Techno a solid roundhouse kick to the face, sending him down for good. 

And then there were two fighters in the pit, one on the ground and one still standing tall, and Tommy was the one standing this time. 

The wild cheers of Tubbo and Niki coming from above him only made it even better. 

**7.7**

“Looks like everyone is a hybrid this time,” Niki noted. She’d almost gone into the water without armor before remembering that she was an enderman hybrid now. “At least it’s a little interesting twist?”

“Speak for yourself,” Tommy muttered, feeling the patches of raccoon fur on his face. “You get silk touch hands. I get to be a furry like Fundy.” He huffed and turned to Eret. “What about you?”

Eret gave them a strained smile. “Wither hybrid. I’ve been wearing gloves this whole time because touching people gives them wither effects.” Niki patted his arm sympathetically. 

“Sorry I’m late! Still figuring this one out.” They turned to see Tubbo running up to the three of them. 

Tommy winced. “Tubbo…” Tubbo had horns this time, longer than normal, pointing upwards and twisting slightly.

Tubbo, however, grinned. “It’s not so bad.” Then his wings, large black and purple dragon wings, unfurled behind him. “In fact, I can get used to being this sort of hybrid.”

**7.8 (credit to KiwiRen)**

Tommy Awoke on the roof of a skyscraper. Definitely unusual. _Okay, checking loop memories._

_...Oh fuck yes_.

So, it turned out that this time around, he was Spiderman. A relatively new Spiderman, but Spiderman all the same. It had been so long since he’d looped in as the Flash in DC, and he’d been hoping for another superhero loop. He started rifling through his loop memories a bit more closely. 

...Of course, the press already hated him. That was fine, Tommy could deal with that. As long as he got to save people. 

The web-swinging was also a massive bonus, of course. 

~

Tommy snickered to himself as he tied Dream up. It seemed that in this world, Dream was his equivalent of the Green Goblin. Luckily he wasn’t the Ultimate version, or whatever, but still, beating Dream up on a semi-regular basis was very cathartic. 

(There was also the weird fact that Drista seemed to be in Harry Osborne’s role. She only showed up occasionally in loops, so Tommy didn’t know much about her, except that she was always Dream’s sister. At the very least, this version of her didn’t seem interested in following her brother’s footsteps.) 

“Looks like you got here first,” Tommy turned to see Sapnap, aka the Human Torch, landing right beside him. “He’s knocked out?”

“Yeah. Won’t be coming to for a while.” Tommy shrugged. “You wanna take him in? Or should I?” 

“You caught him. You can decide.” Sapnap looked down on his fallen friend with no small amount of sadness. Then he shook his head. “It’s still hard, I guess,” he said quietly. “Knowing that he’s not the Dream I was friends with.”

Tommy winced with sympathy. It wasn’t unusual for something like this to happen in loops, where Dream would go crazy, and Sapnap always seemed to take it harder than anyone. “I don’t know what he was like before. But maybe you can help him get better,” he offered. “Don’t sweat it if you can’t, though. No one’s gonna blame you.”

“I know.” Sapnap’s smile was bitter. “But I have to at least try.” 

~

“You seem like you’ve been having fun.” Tubbo sat on the edge of a skyscraper with him, legs swinging over the side. “At least, you’ve improved your rep to be better than what Peter’s was.” 

“Just a little,” Tommy agreed. “And what about you? I haven’t seen you around.”

Tubbo brightened. “Oh, I’ve been with the X-Men! I’m replacing Scarlet Witch currently. And Crumb is Quicksilver, but she’s not a looper, so.” He pouted a bit at that. “But the Captain is Awake, and he’s Magneto!” 

Tommy choked. “You’re serious? How did that happen?”

His friend shrugged. “No idea. At least he seems to be enjoying himself. I think he likes to go ham once in a while. And Tom is Professor X, so they both seem to be happy with the reversal of their usual roles.” 

**7.9**

When Dream had woken up, things had seemed relatively normal. L’Manberg had won their independence and were establishing themselves as a nation, annoying as it was, but Dream could recover from this. They were still beginning, still shaky, reaching too far too soon, and he was sure they would topple over sooner rather than later.

So even though he has technically lost, he was in a good mood as he headed out of his house and went to see his friends.

Then he actually saw them.

“Dream? Is something wrong?” Sapnap asked. 

“Is something- Sapnap, what the _fuck_ are you wearing?”

“Um, my mask?” Sure enough, on Sapnap’s face was a white mask with his normal flame symbol on it. “Is there something wrong with it? Did Tommy draw on it?”

“That’s not - what-” Dream sputtered, utterly confused. “Sapnap, is this some sort of joke? You’re wearing a mask like me today?”

“Um, no, I’m wearing my own mask. Just like every other day.” Sapnap frowned. “Are you okay Dream?” As if Dream was the one going crazy here.

It was at this convenient moment that George walked in, a sleeping face on his own white mask. Dream could only stare at him. 

“George, Dream’s acting weird,” Sapnap said. “He seems very confused about my mask.” 

“He’s probably just messing with you,” George assured him. “You’ve always had that mask, and it looks just fine to me.”

“No, neither of you have masks! Why are you wearing masks!?” Dream rubbed eyes, as if he could wipe away the weird image and words of his friends. “You know what? I’m going for a walk. Not sticking around you people right now.”

“Have fun!” Sapnap said brightly, waving. If Dream had been less tired and more aware, he would’ve caught the laughter in his friend’s voice. 

Without thinking about it, he found himself making his way towards L’Manberg. Perhaps because being near such infuriating people would make him less pissed at his friends. In front of him, Tommy and Tubbo dashed across the prime path, before stopping to look at him. 

“Oi, what’s a matter with you now?” Tommy asked. “You seem like you’ve seen a ghost or something.” 

“Maybe he’s feeling unwell after such a bad loss,” Tubbo offered sweetly. “We did take a decent chunk of his land, after all.”

“ _Why the fuck are you wearing masks?_ ” Dream demanded.

Tommy’s mask had a :O face on it, and Tubbo’s had a >:D face. And neither of them should have masks at all!

Tommy huffed, as if Dream was the one being infuriating here. “Why the fuck wouldn’t we? We’ve always had masks. Just like everyone else on the server.”

“No, no I’m the only one who wears a mask on this server,” Dream snapped. “What the fuck is this?”

“Masks don’t just belong to you, you know!” Tubbo replied, sounding genuinely offended.

“What’s going on here?” Wilbur said, showing up with his own mask, and Dream decided the SMP just wasn’t worth it today. Everyone had gone bonkers. He was going home.

~

“So how did you get everyone to agree?” Tommy wondered, throwing aside his mask as the group relaxed within L’Manberg’s walls.

Tubbo smiled. “Most of them, I just asked if they wanted to troll Dream and they agreed. I bribed Sapnap with a Soulfire flamethrower and George with a magical pillow. All in a day's work.”

“And next week we all pretend this never happened and drive him even more bonkers,” Tommy snickered. “This is gonna be hilarious. Let’s save some photos for Niki and Eret.”

**7.10**

“So, are you gonna tell me what the big surprise is now?” Tommy asked, as he and Tubbo relaxed on their bench, Cat playing softly in the jukebox. 

“Yeah.” Tubbo gave him a nervous smile. “It’s, um, if you don’t like it, that’s totally fine! You’re not required to keep it or anything, just let me know and I’ll drop them in the void some other loop.” 

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Way to be pessimistic. No way whatever you made is that bad. Just show me and let me decide for myself, yeah?”

His best friend took a deep breath. “Right. Okay.” And out of his subspace pocket, he retrieved two compasses, before handing one to Tommy.

Tommy sucked in a breath as he held the compass in his hands. It had the usual “Your Tubbo” inscription on it, but the metal and the colors were off, there were enchantments he’d never seen before, and rather than pointing to L’Manberg, it was pointing to Tubbo himself.

“Well, since we were in a marvel loop recently, I got the materials from that and the DC loop we went through together a while back. The casing is a mix of vibranium and promethium, so they can’t be broken or destroyed by creepers or tnt. Or anything else, really. The glass is actually Ramonite from that Animorphs loop, with a few… other properties carried from that loop. Obviously they point to us instead of to L’Manberg and Logstedshire.” 

Tommy stared down at the compass in his hands. Tubbo seemed to take that as dislike, because he quickly added: “Like I said, if you don’t want them or it brings up uncomfortable memories or anything I’ll get rid of them! I just thought it would be nice to make more permanent versions that we can carry through loops-”

“Shut up, okay?” Tommy finally said, before hugging his friend as tightly as he could. Fuck, his eyes were stinging. “I fucking love them. Ender, this must’ve taken forever.”

Tubbo let out a small chuckle. “It did take a bit, yeah. But it was worth it, I think.” He brightened up. “Oh, and there’s one more thing! Carried it over from the Animorphs loop, but I had to mix it with a few others to make it work, along with those enchantments from variant loops. Try putting it on.” 

Tommy did so, the chain fitting around his neck nicely. Tubbo put his own on, then looked up. 

...So that’s what he meant by carrying something else from the Animorphs loop. Tommy grinned, and wiped his eyes. 

Tubbo thought back cheerfully.

**7.11**

The loop started off seemingly normal, until Eret looked to their left and got their loop memories. 

Apparently, rather than Tubbo, Jordan Sparklez was Tommy’s best friend and member of the revolution. The man, currently a teenager, smiled at him and Tommy and sent a ping to let them know he was looping, as he signed his own name. Once that was done, Tommy quickly led them both to his dirt house. 

“I’ll admit, I’m a little excited,” Jordan said, once they were away from prying eyes. “This is my first time looping in Tubbo’s position. And our worlds are very connected this time around, so Tubbo will probably be showing up soon as well.”

“Well that’s good.” Tommy sat down on his bed and looked Jordan over carefully. “So, he’s replacing you this time? Does that mean he’s already been through all that champion shit?”

“Oh no,” Jordan answered cheerfully. Too cheerfully. “No, Ianite is replacing me as champion of the Balance God, although she’s not Awake. No, this is a swap between the three of us.”

Eret frowned. “But that means…” They paled as the realization hit them. Catching Tommy’s expression, they knew he felt the same way. 

There was a pop of purple light, and Tubbo was there, floating in the middle of the room, wings fanned out for all to see. “Hey guys! Looks like I’m a god this time. Isn’t that cool? I mean, getting stuck in a prison for thousands of years sucked, but now I’m free, at least!” 

“Do these sorts of loops stick?” Eret asked Jordan faintly. 

Jordan smiled. “Sometimes, yeah.”

Oh Ender.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 7.1 Tubbo also stole the Darksaber. Just to complete the black and yellow aesthetic.  
> 7.2 Being in a time loop without your loved ones can be hard.  
> 7.3 They've already been an ice queen, why not an Ice King?  
> 7.4 Yikes. Poor Eret.   
> 7.5 Karl is Loop Aware! He has been for a while, he just hasn't come forth with it in past loops.   
> 7.6 Tommy's earned his win.   
> 7.7 To be fair, who wouldn't want to be a dragon?  
> 7.8 ~ _SpiderInnit, SpiderInnt... _~_  
>  7.9 How to drive Dream crazy. This time, with the skills to back it up!  
> 7.10 Clingydou has only become more clingy. Also < > are used for telepathy in the Animorphs books, so that is how they will be used here.   
> 7.11 Fear Him._

**Author's Note:**

> That's all for now. If you have any ideas for future segments, feel free to suggest them below! 
> 
> Also, please leave a review if you can. I crave the validation.


End file.
